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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375736">You are all I’ve got, Austin.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlauMiel/pseuds/KlauMiel'>KlauMiel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>LoveLink (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Roller Coaster, Emotions, F/M, Love, Multi, Passion, References to Depression, Sex, lovelink, lovelink game</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:54:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>49,644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375736</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/KlauMiel/pseuds/KlauMiel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A story based on Lovelink character Austin Russo, starts before meeting Austin on Lovelink and continues through the storyline and after. </p><p>I hope you will enjoy it :)</p><p>Damien Version here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27375547</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Austin Russo/MC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>67</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Swipe Right</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>Dating apps, right. I wasn't sure at first when my best friend Gemma showed me Lovelink.</p><p>'Gemma, are you out of your mind? I don't use dating apps … this is crazy!' I saw her big blue eyes staring at me with her brow raised and half-smile on her face. She is my best friend for a reason; she knows me better than anyone. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She sat back in the chair, crossed her arms, still looking at me right in the eyes.</p><p>‘Come on, Maya, there has to be a first time for everything. Shaun found Olivia on the dating app, right? And look at then now … I can see that you want to try, it’s been five months since Luke …’ she stopped herself. We don’t talk about Luke, my psycho ex, who nearly got me killed.</p><p>‘ This isn’t easy for me, and you know it. I’m not ready… Shaun was just lucky, plus he is a guy that’s different ‘ Shaun, my twin brother, my best friend, the male version of me, the bond that only twins can understand. He was lucky to find his girlfriend on the dating app five years ago. <em>Maybe Gemma is right; perhaps I should try and leave this shit with Luke behind.</em></p><p>‘ Just remember not every guy is Luke; he is an exception to the norm, he has mental issues, and I knew it the moment I saw him with you, lesson learned the hard way …If you’re not going to give Greg a chance, at least try the app. You don’t have to jump right into a relationship, just have some fun … go on a date or two, just simple conversations, maybe you will find some hottie with nice abs and big … personality’ <em>This Girl has only one thing in her mind.</em> I rolled my eyes. ‘Like Greg, for example, he is successful, romantic and hot as hell...and of course in love with you,’ She looked away with disappointment.<em> Unfortunately, he is.</em> I told him a million times that we could only be friends, but every time I do it, I feel horrible because I know I’m hurting him.</p><p> </p><p>‘OK, If I give it a try, will you get off me? Like, really give it a break… and stop putting ideas in Greg’s head, I can’t think of him any other way than just my boss and good friend … it’s just wrong ’ she tossed her long blonde hair to one side with a smirk on her face. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. I knew very well what was in her mind right now, all the things that she would do to him. <em>She is a thirsty little devil</em>. The whole office knows that she fancies the pants off him; she isn’t even trying to hide it ‘ Gemma, just go for it, he is more your type than mine... Let’s make a deal. I will try this stupid app, and you will make a move on Greg …deal?</p><p>‘Yes, deal!’ She clapped her hands with excitement, jumping from the chair.<em> I swear this Girl is impossible, but I love her to death.</em> ‘It is a sin for a woman like you to hide this beauty! Let’s give those black waves a bit of shine, and you are done’ She started to brush my hair with her long nails, took her phone out ‘ I hate you for this natural beauty! You don’t have to put even a gram of makeup to look stunning. I spend hours getting my face ready, and you just put on a moisturizer, mascara, and you are done’ She shook her head, always jealous, but still the one bringing the most of the male attention. ‘Come on, let’s move to the window. You need a good photo. But change the top; you need something to make those green eyes pop!’</p><p>I ran to the bedroom, put on my favourite olive blouse—a little bit of eyeliner for a bit of edge.</p><p>‘OK, here we go!’ I entered the living room where Gemma prepared everything,</p><p>‘Girl! You look hot!’</p><p>I should've guessed that this will take hours.</p><p> </p><p>-----</p><p> </p><p>The same afternoon I created my profile on Lovelink , took me ages to find the perfect description of myself but finally was done.<em> OK, what do I do now? Ah, I guess I swipe.</em></p><p>Days of swiping left and right few guys caught my eye; Adam, photographer; the conversation was flowing, he seemed nice, but after a couple of days, I got bored. He was a typical hopeless romantic, too soft, not what I am looking for.</p><p>
  <em>Next!</em>
</p><p><br/>
Albert Bishop, a sexy soldier. Damn, he was hot! We were texting and sexting for a couple of days. But we reached the point where he told me that he was getting deployed soon, and then it hit me. My childhood, not seeing my Dad for months, my Mum constantly struggling with his absence, never knowing if he comes back in one piece. I wasn’t ready for that.<br/>
We went for a nice dinner had a lovely time after. He nearly convinced me to give it a shot, but a few days later, he got deployed. I couldn’t make promises that I will wait for him even if I wanted to; god, I had hots for him. One night with him and he left me speechless but felt like just physical attraction, and this is not what I am looking for. <em>Fuck sake! And what am I actually looking for? Do I even know?</em></p><p>Few days after Albert went offline, I was lying in bed, it was late, and I had enough. Enough of horny, ignorant, full of themselves blokes that only waste my time. <em>What are they trying to archive with that?</em> I was just about to put my phone down after swiping left on the guy that had a photo of the centaur who was lost in our world and needed a rescue. <em>Seriously?! Is this some kind of joke?! I have enough of this shit for today!</em></p><p>But then I saw him. Standing I front of a wire fence, shirtless, deep blue eyes, black hair short on the sides and long on top, this sharp jawline that always makes my knees weak, arms covered and good looking tattoos, scowling but in that sexy and intriguing way. There was something soft in his look, something interesting. I stared at his picture for like felt forever, like I was hypnotized. Suddenly my phone got dark. I unlocked it as fast as could, looked once again, and opened his bio. I needed to know more about this guy. “ if I tell you I’m innocent ..will you believe me …I’ve been wrongly accused of murder’’ <em>Excuse me, what?! Murder?!</em> I couldn’t believe it, of course, that’s my luck. The guy is hot, my type on paper but is locked up; this could only happen to me. But then I had another look at his picture. What would Gemma do? I instantly sent her a screenshot of his photo and bio.</p><p>‘Girl, what do I do?!’</p><p>I didn’t have to wait long for the answer.</p><p>‘Are you crazy?! Just look at him! What are you waiting for? Swipe right and find out what he is all about! There must be more to this. He is just your type!’</p><p> </p><p>And here it was, the swipe right that will change everything, a dream and a nightmare in one.<br/>
If I only knew that Austin Russo turns my life upside down the way he did. I would swipe right anyway thousand times over</p><p>----------------</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Mama knows best</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maya's mothers is about to find out that her daughter is dating a prisoner.<br/>Will Austin finally let her help him? And what is wrong with Gemma.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>I was sitting in my favourite armchair in my parent’s house, sipping tea and chilling like every other Saturday morning. <em>She makes the best tea in the world, like a magic elixir for all my fears and problems</em>. Checking my phone every few minutes, I looked at my mum sitting on the sofa focused on filing her long red nails. She is beautiful as always, so classy and sophisticated, with her beautiful long black and curly hair, big brown eyes. She looked like a proper lady in her brown pencil skirt and white shirt neatly pushed inside, long legs like a model, nobody can tell that she just turned fifty-two. She was glowing. And yet, there was this familiar sadness in her eyes, I’ve seen it so many times, this look when she stares in the distance lost in her thoughts, hurts me every time seeing her like this because I know exactly what it means.</p><p> </p><p>Dad promised her that this will be his last deployment and he will retire so they can finally live their lives the way they wanted, but he said that last time as well and one before that. She knew that he always wanted to reach the Captain rank, and she let him follow his dreams. Even if that meant leaving us for months every year, missing Christmas, birthdays and challenging times. He got promoted four years ago and finally, after over thirty years in the army, he had his dream job. My mother never complained, she loves him too much, after all, he was her first love her ‘hero’ as he always calls him.</p><p>She was devoted to her work as a music teacher, that always helped her in worse times, we grew up with her beautiful songs and a voice of an angel, her powerful cante flamenco only proved how magical and emotional music can be.</p><p> </p><p>It was tough for her to leave Sevilla, her family and friends, but she did it for love, for my Dad. My grandmother was against it, but she did it anyway. A nineteen years old music student with no language or money, completely alone only a handsome soldier that she fell in love with a few months before. She knew that she will have a beautiful life; she took a risk, and it paid off. Well, that’s what she uses to tell us, was it really what she always dreamt off? Being part-single single mother with two kids, praying every day for her husband to come back in one piece and not in the wooden box? I think she tried so hard to convince herself that in the end, she believed it.</p><p> </p><p>She is the most caring and loving person I know, always two steps ahead of us catching us before we fall, still supporting even if what we are doing it’s just stupid and illogical.</p><p>We didn’t give her a hard time as kids, as twins, we naturally looked after one another without even thinking about it, if one was in trouble or going through a hard time the other one always knew. It always freaked me out how this is possible that being somewhere else I can still feel Shaun’s emotions and vice versa. We are the same in every aspect, like the same things, react the same way to everything.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya!’ She snapped me from my thoughts ‘I asked you if you want more tea and some cake? Lemon cheesecake your favourite.’ <em>Did she just said lemon cheesecake !?</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god, Mum! You don’t have to ask twice. You know that I would die for it’ She laughed and walked to the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I looked at my phone again. Just a few silly messages from Gemma describing Greg’s best bed tricks. <em>I swear</em> <em>she will eat this poor guy alive!</em> After a few conversations with Greg, I convinced him to give her a chance, he finally understood that we can’t be together as the feeling wasn’t mutual.</p><p>They went on a date a few days after, and now they are inseparable, I felt a little guilty that I left this for so long I could’ve pushed them earlier to try.</p><p> </p><p>I called Gemma while my mum was in the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hey, girl! What’s up?!’ She answered I could hear Greg in the background; <em>I guess I just disturbed something. Did he just moan?!</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>‘Nothing much, I’m just chilling here with my mum and wanted to check how are you doing, but from your texts, and what I can hear I guessed you are nice and comfy whenever you are’ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I’m with Greg … I had to pull him away from work, he spends way  too much time working on things that don’t matter, he needs to relax, reports and taxes can wait until Monday I am more important right now’ she giggled</p><p> </p><p>‘You know he is a workaholic, but I can see you are doing a great job in changing that, I’m glad to hear it. ‘</p><p> </p><p>‘And how is your prison bae? Did you decide if you are going to visit him? I thought that was your plan for today, to surprise him. Did you chicken out?’ I checked if my mum wasn’t coming back from the kitchen, and I lowered my voice.</p><p> </p><p>‘I didn’t chicken out, I called yesterday, but I was late for booking. Plus I am not sure if surprising him is a good idea, maybe I should discuss this with him first ‘ I saw my mum coming back from the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is your call girl, you know him better, but you have to make up your mind. Six weeks of only texting and sending hot pics is a long time. You are long overdue for the next level. Just don’t get too invested if you are not sure if you want to make a move, plus is not like you two have much of a future… I think you should look elsewhere is pointless to waste your time on him at this point, he has no future ’ <em>Not much of a future</em> <em>?! Waste my time</em>?! <em>What the hell was that about?!</em> I was just about to call her out, but I saw my mum in the living room pouring tea and putting three plates on the table.</p><p> </p><p>‘OK, Gemma, I have to go. Have fun, just make sure you can walk on Monday. Sara is only waiting for a chance to shame you in front of everyone…Bye’ I hang up before she could answer. I couldn’t believe that she said that. What got into her? She was very salty about the whole Austin situation from the start, and recently she avoided me. Just talking about herself and Greg. Even in the office, we didn’t chat as much as we use to. I was puzzled and hurt at the same time, that was so mean and entirely not like her.</p><p> </p><p>I tossed my phone on the table with anger, and I was just about to dig into my cheesecake when I heard a doorbell.</p><p> </p><p>‘I will get it Mum!’ I run to the door, I knew it was Shaun I could feel it, smiling from ear to ear, his black curls wet from the rain falling in his green eyes.</p><p>I am always so happy to see him, my little brother. Well, three minutes difference, but still, he is younger than me, and he hates it.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hello, sis! I think I need a towel is absolutely lashing out there’ He said, shaking his wet hair while coming inside.</p><p> </p><p>‘Here it is sweetheart, just in time, cake is on the table.’ My mum always two steps ahead, always prepared. She hugged him and dried his head with towel messing his hair up.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as we sat down, I heard my phone ping. A familiar tune that made me smile each time I heard it. It was him! Of course, it was, I didn’t talk to anyone else there. I grabbed it as fast as I could, Shaun and Mum were busy chatting about some series on Netflix that I didn’t see, so I took the opportunity to focus on the conversation with Austin. He had a shitty day, so I decided to cheer him up a little. I’ve sent him a picture of me holding a tray with the pie that I’ve made the day before from the recipe he gave me. I was covered in flour from head to toe my hair was all messy. He joked about the mess I made in the kitchen. We talked about our favourite desserts, we had the same taste, so it wasn’t surprising to me when he said that lemon cheesecake is also his favourite. It was a short conversation, his time in the library was over. He kept his phone there, in one of the books.</p><p>I was happy to have at least this ten minutes with him. Made me feel better that I managed to cheer him up a little bit, he was a bit tense lately. I had a feeling he is hiding something, but I didn’t want to push him.</p><p> </p><p>I’ve put my phone down, and I saw Shaun and Mum staring at me.</p><p> </p><p>‘What?’ I asked nervously looking around myself to see what they are looking at. ‘Did I spill some tea? ‘</p><p> </p><p>‘Who was that sweetie?’ My Mum smiled at me ‘Was it Albert?’<em> Why would she think it was Albert?</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘No, why you think it was Albert? I didn’t hear from him for weeks, plus we left it as they were. I don’t want to waste my time on him. I don’t even know when he is coming back, could be months. I made my decision, one soldier in the family is enough. I want my man to be next to me every day. I am not strong enough to go through the same as you’ her smile dropped instantly. <em>Fuck! My big mouth again! </em>‘ Mum I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to..’</p><p> </p><p>‘It’s ok love, I know what you mean, and I fully understand it’s not an easy life, and if you don’t feel like he is worth that kind of commitment you shouldn’t waste your time and wait for him. I stuck with your father because he was the one, still is but if you don’t feel like Albert is that’s only fair’ she paused for a second, and her smile came back ‘ So if not Albert who was it then? You were smiling and giggling the whole time. I didn’t see you like this for a long time.’</p><p> </p><p>She was right, I didn’t feel like this for a long time, this whole Luke situation messed me up pretty badly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘It’s nothing, is just a guy from Lovelink that I am chatting with. Really, not a big deal’ She didn’t believe a word I said. Shaun shoot me an angry glance. Mum always knows when we are lying.</p><p> </p><p>‘You are not getting away with this, not this time, you just blew your cover by giggling like mad! He knew about Austin, I told him everything, and I felt like it is time to share it with mum. At this stage, I was too deep into this, and she already knew that I am hiding something. We never had any secrets in the family, we made a promise that we need to share everything so we can help each other when we needed, and I didn’t want to break it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I looked at my phone again and saw the last message from Austin.</p><p> </p><p>“Bye messy pie ’’</p><p> </p><p>I smiled. <em>He is so fucking sweet, sometimes.</em> Took a deep breath.</p><p> </p><p>‘OK, I will tell you but please don’t freak out.’</p><p> </p><p>She poured more tea to the mugs sat comfortably on the sofa, put her hands on her knees. She was ready, that’s what she thought, but she wasn’t.</p><p> </p><p>‘About six weeks ago I matched with this guy, Austin Russo. I wasn’t sure at first, but I swiped because he intrigued me, I saw something interesting in him. See for yourself.’ I showed her his profile picture and the one he sent me a few weeks ago with his pop. I kept shirtless to myself.</p><p> </p><p>‘Wow, handsome man. So far, so good.’<em> God, she is so not ready for that. </em>Shaun smiled, he knew I was shitting myself, I didn’t want her to know.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, we really clicked, not right away. In the beginning, I thought that he is a bit of a prick, rude and arrogant, but he started to open up and … we were texting every day, getting to know each other. He is a bit rough around the edges but is getting better. I think I am bringing his soft side now. You will like that… he is a poet.’ I had to start with the right things, prepare her. She loves poetry.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh, that’s so romantic. You seem to like him.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I do. I feel like we have a connection, even tho we’ve been only texting, we didn’t really meet in real life yet, but we have something special.’</p><p> </p><p>‘ He didn’t take you for a date in six weeks? Why? That’s a red flag sweetheart ‘ <em>Fuck! Here we go. Just say it! </em>I looked at Shaun, begging for help, but he nodded reassuring me. I took a deep breath and looked at my Mum. My mouth was dry as sand, I took a big sip of tea, brushed my hair nervously <em>She is going to flip.</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Mum, we couldn’t go on a date because he is in prison’ My heart pounded in my chest, I  desperately searched for her reaction. She had a poker face, but I knew she was shocked, she didn’t say anything because she knew this is not all ‘He was falsely accused of murder seven years ago.. he is innocent, but there is not enough evidence to prove it.’</p><p>She didn’t say anything, just looked away then down. I felt my eyes filling with tears. <em>She is disappointed, she won’t even look at me. </em>I caught Shaun looking at her. Finally, she said quietly slowly bringing her eyes back to me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, this was unexpected.. how long is his sentence?’ Mum was very serious, but I could see that she cared, she was worried. There was approval in her piercing brown eyes. That approval that I needed right now.</p><p> </p><p>‘He is on the death row.’ I nearly whispered, looking at the floor, tears flowing. I felt horrible. On one side, my mum, always wanting me to find a good Nobel man and have a perfect family, one that we never had. And on the other side Austin, the not ideal partner for her perfect daughter, another criminal</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god, sweetie.’ She sat on the floor next to me, took my hands in hers and looked at me ‘Are you hundred per cent sure he is innocent?’</p><p> </p><p>‘ Yes, I believe him.’ I whispered</p><p> </p><p>I told her everything. How Austin and his pop ran a chop shop together, how his half-brother Bennie started using heavy drugs and his father kicked him out, so he decided to take them down with his new gang; they got into a fight and Bennie tried to shoot Austin but his pop pushed him away and took the bullet. Bennie and his thugs knocked Austin down and left him next to his dead father with the gun in his hand. Unfortunately, this was enough evidence to prove him guilty and sentenced to death.</p><p> </p><p>I didn’t even notice that I was crying like a baby the whole time. I must’ve looked pathetic.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I know that you think I must be stupid, he could be lying and just playing me, but I really have feelings for him. I can’t even explain it. I believe him, he would never kill his father, he loved him, I could feel it from the way he spoke about him.’ I took a deep breath trying to calm myself ‘I saw his rough side when we started talking, but now he is a different person…  he opened up ‘ Suddenly all the thoughts of losing him went through my head</p><p> ‘Mum... I have to help him … I don’t know how but I can’t let him die.’ I felt her arms wrapped around my shoulders when she squeezed to sit next to me. She wiped my cheeks and lifted my chin.</p><p> </p><p>‘ Sweetheart, I would never think you are stupid. Love is never stupid, I would’ve been a complete hypocrite to think this way. You are my daughter, my whole world, and I love you with my whole heart. You are exactly like me when you fall for someone you fall deep. I can see that you care about this boy. And your golden heart won’t let you just leave him like that.  Maya, if you believe he's innocent, I trust you’ She pointed at my phone ’ I don’t see a murderer in him, there is good in his eyes. And what’s most important you see a good person in him, you gave him a chance because you knew is right.’ Her expression softened ‘ We better start thinking about how we can help him.’</p><p> </p><p>Shaun sat on the sofa, resting his head on his hands, suddenly he got up.</p><p> </p><p>‘Sis, we will figure something out. There must be a way to get him out of this, talk to him see what you can learn. I’m sure he knows what to do but is holding back, is too proud to ask you for help. He is too young and definitely not ready to die…Listen… Dad will be back in a few weeks maybe he can pull some strings, in the meantime try to convince Austin to let you help him.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I wasn’t expecting my mum to understand, but she saw something more than just a stupid girl falling in love with the guy who most likely will never see the outside world before saying goodbye to it. She felt my determination and will to get him out of this shit, and as always she was two steps ahead.</p><p> </p><p>‘ What was the other evidence apart from the gun?’ She asked while walking back to the sofa</p><p> </p><p>‘ Partial DNA on him, which by the way is the same as Bennie’s, if we could have his DNA that would be a full match. I’m sure that would be enough to prove him innocent. I spoke with him about this, but nobody knows where Bennie is now, and police aren’t even looking for him. Plus is not easy to convince Austin to let me help him, he is stubborn, he lived with the idea that there is no chance for him to get out for seven years and now when there is a small chance he is scared, he won’t admit it, but he is scared someone will get hurt because of him again.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘You have to convince him’ Shaun said ‘ I am sure he knows something, a guy like Bennie can’t just disappear without the trace unless they are dead. Then we are screwed… Talk to him and don’t do anything stupid alone, you have me’ He smiled and flicked my nose</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Next day I spoke with Austin about the possibility of finding Bennie, of course, he didn’t want me to get involved. <em>How someone can be so stubborn!?</em></p><p>But that day, I decided that I had enough of him pissing around. After he got stabbed in the library by few of Bennie’s thugs who tried to cut his tongue, to make sure he won’t speak before the execution.</p><p>This was the point in which I drew the line, it was too much. My man was in grave danger, and I suppose to sit with my arms crossed? No fucking way! But before he managed to get proper angry he told me that we will give it ago, he had information where Bennie was last seen, he sent me an address and asked me to wait until we make a plan. <em>He clearly doesn’t know me as well as he thinks he does.’</em></p><p> </p><p>The moment Austin went offline, I put the address in my GPS  and drove there. I looked around the place that seemed to be a chop shop. Austin texted me when I was hidden behind the fence. He was fuming, I didn’t listen to him after all, he specifically told me to wait. <em>Sorry not sorry, darling.</em></p><p> </p><p>We confirmed that the bike outside the shop was Bennie’s, I went to look around searching for anything useful, but then my luck reached its end together with my common sense.</p><p>Bennie found me. I had only one chance to use this to my advantage, he was meters away from me. I only needed a bit of his hair, that's all.</p><p>I could stir it anyway I could, I had him right in front of me, but no. I did the only thing my stupid mind told me to.</p><p>I agreed to go on a date with a murderer. <em>How wonderfully clever of me. Mama will be proud.</em></p><p>It was the stupidest idea ever, but it was the only chance I had to free Austin, or at least save his life.</p><p> </p><p>Austin wasn’t happy with the idea, but he knew it is the only way. Only one shot, he’s the only door to freedom.</p><p>We planned everything, go in get the hair and get out. Simple as that. Nothing can go wrong, right? Right.</p><p> </p><p>I called Shaun, I was stupid and desperate enough to go on a date a murderer but not dumb as to go there alone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>-----------</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Bennie</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Shaun goes with Maya to get Bennie's DNA to save Austin from death row.<br/>Shaun’s POV.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a spoiler if you didn't finish Austin's route :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Maya, what time you said you will be there ?’ I asked, carrying mugs with coffee to the living room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘We didn’t agree to a specific time, later afternoon sometime. He said he will be at his place’ Maya shouted from the bedroom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Don’t leave it to late, better get ready and let’s go. The faster we are done with this, the better’ I sat on the sofa sipping my coffee.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She is insane to do this, she could’ve asked him to help her with the old bike, the one dad has in the garage. Why did she have to agree to a bloody date ?!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am ready, but we are not going until I talk to Austin. I promised that I won’t go without talking to him before. He should text me any minute now’ She walked to the living room. <em>Wow</em>! <em>Is that my sister?</em> She looked completely different, sharp. She straightened her hair, skinny black jeans, grey tank top with a sports bra underneath. Heavy dark makeup made her look like she isn’t messing around. ‘ Should I add red lippy? What do you think?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Well you already look sharp, I wouldn’t want to be on your bad side, but yeah I guess if you want’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I need to look credible like one of them; otherwise, I can raise suspicions. I thought about shorts, but this asshole doesn’t deserve the view’ she said, putting lipstick on when her phone rang. ‘ Is Austin, she smiled and sat down on the sofa next to me looking at the phone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She looked disconnected from her surroundings like nothing else existed apart from the guy on the other side of the phone. I sat there shitting my pants getting less and less convinced that this is s a good idea. I needed to make sure that she is focused.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘He told me to take a knife’ She said still looking at the phone</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Knife!? You don’t need it to pull his hair, you have pepper spray, is that not enough? Plus you are a self-defence expert you don’t need a knife.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I will take a small one from the kitchen, just in case. Better safe than sorry. I promised him. Plus He knows Bennie better, he is a criminal, could be unpredictable. Few self-defence classes from dad don’t make me an expert. I can kick his ass, but if he pulls a gun on me, I need something more than pepper spray’ she said lacing her camp boots. ‘ Let’s go, I don’t want to wait any longer’ She got up from the sofa, grabbed her leather jacket and run to the kitchen to grab a knife.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Drive was long, and we were getting nowhere near the place. Maya was quiet, with nose in her phone. She was looking at the Lovelink messages</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You will drain the battery, you will need it later. Austin will be checking if you are ok for sure and I don’t have a charger here’ She locked her screen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Did you speak to Olivia recently? Did you guys managed to clear the air?’ Olivia and I broke up a few weeks before and we didn’t end it on good terms. Five years ago, we met on a dating app, I always knew that Olivia isn’t the type of woman who commits, she was always very reserved and cold. I never thought that she could just leave me, because of her career, just like that after five years, pack her bags and move to another country. We had plans to start a family, but she told me she never wanted one, she knew this was always my biggest dream. The fact that I moved on so quickly proved me she wasn’t the one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No, we didn’t speak since the fight. Maybe that’s for better I don’t need her toxic attitude right now. I only wish I could have back the five years I wasted on her. I could  use  it for someone worth it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ True, you don’t need someone like that in your life. To bitch around all the time, if you can’t be yourself around her what’s the point. The fact that she never told you she didn't want kids was horrible. Is not like you never asked her, you’ve been planning it, and suddenly she just gets a job in Canada and moves out, without considering you or your feelings. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yeah… anyway I moved on. I still have time to settle down, this time with the right person. I tried that app of yours. If my sister found love there, I should give it another go.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ That’s great! You need to move on. Did you met anyone interesting already?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am chatting with a few girls. One wanted me to fly to Ibiza to see her, I mean sorry but I am not that fast, she is pretty but a bit wild to my taste and looks like trouble, had to unmatch her too much like Olivia. There is one girl Angel, she seems sweet, we just started talking, so it is difficult to say where this will go, but she looks like my type. I might give it a go. I need someone gentle and peaceful after Olivia’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s amazing Shaun, peaceful is definitely someone you need. I hope it works out for you, you have a soft spot for wild girls, but quiet and sweet is what you really want. Let me know how it goes with her ‘She looked out the window, her smile dropped, and I felt the familiar worry in my chest. Something is bothering her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Spill it sis, what’s bothering you?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She sighed still looking out the window ‘ Do you think that Austin and I will ever be together? Let’s say that this thing today will work, I will get Bennie’s hair, and they will accept it as evidence. What then? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Then he will get released, and he will be free. Everything is going to be alright, you will see.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I am scared Shaun… scared that I will lose him. I know it’s insane, I never met him, never touched or looked in his eyes, never heard his voice, but I feel like I love him. Am I stupid to feel this way? To love someone I never met? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I know you love him. I can see it every day, and I can assure you what you are feeling now is just the start. Wait until you meet. He managed to do more for you in six weeks while in prison than we did in five months. You finally started to smile again, you get up every morning ready for the day, and you stopped your meds, that’s massive progress. I feel like old Maya is back again, so be positive about it. You two will be together. I don’t know why, but I can feel it.’ I grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maybe Gemma is right, maybe we don’t have a future’ She said quietly with her head down looking at her hands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘With all the respect, Maya but Gemma is an idiot! What she said was out of proportion, friends don’t say things like this. Plus that’s pure bullshit! I am so annoyed with her, she is acting like a child, she has no clue what you feel, never did, never cared. That girl is selfish and cares only about herself. The only thing is on her mind is dicks and money. Good looking guys so she can show off, what hotties she can pull off…Did I told you that I spoke with Greg the other day?... She is using him to get a promotion she wants your position. Greg is a smart guy; he knows what game she is playing. So don’t tell me about Gemma and being right. She doesn't know shit about anything.’ <em> God, I hate that girl so much!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I just don’t understand what is wrong with her recently, why would she said that? She is my friend. I thought that she wants me to be happy. I helped her with Greg, and now I’m feeling awful for doing it. I am not worried about my position, Gerg knows she can’t do it. But I’m worried she will lose her job because of this stupid behaviour.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘She is clearly not the friend you think she is. But you talk to her, see what’s her problem. And don’t believe what, she says. You and Austin have a future if you believe it, it is possible. We will get him out one way or another.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We spent the rest of the journey in silence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ We are here. I will park there so the car can’t be seen ‘ I turned off the lights, and I parked the car behind the block.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ok, it’s time ‘ she took a deep breath. ‘ Don’t get out of the car no matter what, stay here. If I’m not back in half-hour call the police’, She opened the car door to get out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Sis’ I grabbed her hand, she looked at me. I could see she was scared. ‘ Kick his bastard ass, for Austin. Get the hair and get out, don’t hang around. And please be careful’ she smiled and closed the door.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>There she was, walking like a badass she was. This whole Luke experience made her much stronger. One year with an abusive junkie boyfriend who would sell his mother for drugs if that was an option, but it was easier to steal from his girlfriend. She tried to help him many times and send him to rehab, but he had no intention to go. When she tried to break up with him, he wanted to kill them both driving the car into the river, she was so lucky to get out of this in one piece, he didn’t. He drowned in seconds. Maya blamed herself for his death, she thought she could do more to save him.</p>
<p>But as a consequence she suffered from depression for months, only a few weeks ago she stopped to take her meds. It’s such a relief to see her smile again. <em>I really hope this whole Austin is worth her efforts and is not just playing her just to save his ass.’</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>I sat in the car, waiting for her. Twenty minutes later I saw her running towards the car <em>Fuck! Is that blood?</em>  I opened the passenger door, her hand was covered in blood, and she had a cut on her forehead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ What the fuck happened !?  Are you hurt?! ’ I shouted passing her tissues to clean her hands</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I have it!’ She grabbed the tissues.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya, why do you have blood on your hands? What happened !? Answer me!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I stabbed him’ the calm in her voice was terrifying. <em>Why she is so calm?!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What you mean you stabbed him?! Maya, did you kill him!?’ At this point, I was losing my shit.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Shaun, focus! Start the fucking car and drive! We need to take his filthy hair to the police station! There is no time to waste… Bennie will be fine. He was so buzzed he won’t remember I was here. Just drive for fuck sake!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘But you stabbed him! He could be dead! This wasn’t a part of the plan! ‘ I started the car panicking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Do you really think that I could kill someone with this pussy knife? Calm down Shaun, focus on the road, we are about an hour away from the open police station, we have no time to waste.’ She started to clean her head from the blood.</p>
<p>‘ He smashed my head on the door I had to do something, plus I couldn’t just look at him standing there, knowing that Austin spent seven years in prison because of him. This was stronger than me. It was only a scratch he will be fine.’ She put Bennie’s hair in a small bag and put back in her pocket.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘The most important is you have it, it will be downhill from now on.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Fuck!Fuck!’ she shouted, smashing her phone on her knee ‘My funking phone is flat! I need to let Austin know I am fine.’ She was panicking</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ They should have a charger at the station, we can ask. Is late he won't be able to read your message anyway.’ I tried to calm her down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I drove way over the limit, just to get there as fast as possible.</p>
<p> Once we arrived, a police officer took Maya’s details, the hair and asked us to wait.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Did you make sure they let the prison know as soon as possible?’ I asked, passing her coffee.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes, he said they already did. They took the hair to the lab to be tested, but that will take a few hours. We need to wait for a little while, I need to sign some documents, and they need to put my details in the system… I wish they had a bloody charger. I have a bad feeling Shaun, something is not right.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>They let us go around seven in the morning. Bennie’s DNA was in the lab, so there was no need for us to sit there and wait. Maya was anxious, the whole journey home. I tried to calm her down, but I knew something was wrong, we could feel it in the air.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The last poem</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maya gets home and finally speaks to Austin but is this the outcome she expected? What went wrong? <br/>Maya’s POV.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a spoiler if you didn't finish Austin's route:)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I opened the door before Shaun even stopped the car and jumped out. I didn’t want to waste any second, I ran to the house, and straight to the kitchen where I had my charger.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Turn on, you piece of shit!’ I shouted nervously trying to turn on my phone. Shaun stood next to me, rubbing my shoulder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as my phone was on, I opened Lovelik, and immediately my heart dropped and my eyes filled with tears.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’ you’ve been quiet for a while…</p>
<p>Can you just send an emoji or something</p>
<p>Anything to let me know you are okay</p>
<p>Please</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Ok, I’m freaking out!!</p>
<p>You’ve been gone for too long, so I have to assume the worse</p>
<p>Bennie got you, and it’s all my fault</p>
<p>Please tell me I’m wrong</p>
<p>Please tell me I’m not responsible for more blood on my hands</p>
<p>I know you are there! Come on!</p>
<p>If we never talk again… I couldn’t live with myself</p>
<p>All I want is to know for sure, but I’m almost out of time</p>
<p>Tomorrow’s the day of my execution</p>
<p>Fuck…</p>
<p>It's so weird to see it written out like that</p>
<p>Like I know what the words mean, but it doesn’t feel real</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>They asked what I wanted for my last meal this morning</p>
<p>They usually offer a steak, but I asked for some candy instead</p>
<p>If I can’t have you with me …</p>
<p>At least I’ll have something sweet</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Damn! I thought that might work</p>
<p>You always call me out for being cheesy</p>
<p>Please give me a sign …something</p>
<p>ANYTHING !</p>
<p>Well, I got something for you – one last poem</p>
<p>Here it goes…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At the start nothing left to lose-</p>
<p>Nothing to stop me from trying</p>
<p>At the end, with hands shaking –</p>
<p>I was immersed in a love undying</p>
<p>Now our souls will finally rest in memories</p>
<p>Lost without a trace</p>
<p>And forever will I be free to bask</p>
<p>In the light of your grace</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That’s all I’ve got</p>
<p>Goodbye</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I answered his message as fast as I could, with tears in my eyes and shaking hands. This<em> can’t be goodbye, not like this! </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘This can’t be happening, Shaun!’ I cried ‘He is being executed today, we have to do something! I can’t let him die!... Maybe I should call the police station make sure that they informed the prison about the DNA … Shit, he isn’t answering! ‘ I hold my phone with hands shaking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I will make a call now’ Shaun said, wiping my tears with his hands ‘They can’t go ahead with execution if there is new evidence.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Please answer me …please be there. Austin god Damit!’ I cried</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Suddenly an emoji popped next to my message. <em>He is alive!</em> Of course, he is, he can’t just leave me like that, my heart pounded in my chest, and I saw a message popping up</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’WAIT- YOU’RE ALIVE!?’’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I smiled through tears<em>. Duh!</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>I told him that I submitted Bennie’s DNA and they are testing it as we speak.</p>
<p>But the happiness didn’t last long, the guard came to get him.<em> This can’t be the end! </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Shaun, what did they tell you !?’ I asked getting more and more anxious</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘They informed his lawyer, he is on his way there. Austin will be fine Maya, take a deep breath and calm down. He will be okay ‘ Shaun said, approaching me and grabbed my hand, I squeezed my phone so hard I left a mark on my hand, and my fingers got numb.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘But the guard just came to take him, he told me … Are you sure? ‘ I felt lighter, calmer but still not sure, what to think about this</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya, they confirmed that prison is aware. The guard must’ve come for some other reason… hang on… he had his phone in the cell? I thought he kept it the library. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘He took it with him because he was worried, I wasn’t answering he thought I was dead.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shaun smiled gently ‘ You should rest, go to sleep for a little while, don’t worry, he will be fine.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shaun went back home. I took a quick shower, and laid on the sofa, put my phone on the loudest setting possible and quickly fell asleep.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A few hours later, loud sound woke me up. I sat up quickly looked outside; it was dark. Must’ve slept all day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’How do I love thee?</p>
<p>Let me count the ways,</p>
<p>I love thee to the depth and breadth and height</p>
<p>My soul can reach when feeling out of sight</p>
<p>For the ends of being and ideal grace.‘’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Is he saying what I think he is saying?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’I fucking love you.’’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I felt butterflies feeling my stomach, I smiled from ear to ear ‘I love you too!’ I answered.</p>
<p>I’ve been waiting for this moment for days. Only the thought of losing him proved me how much I loved him, how important to me he was. My worries he won’t feel the same vanished. Happiness filled me instantly, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. But there were happy tears.</p>
<p>He was fine, alive and most likely will be realised soon. We will finally be able to be together. I felt like I didn’t want to be without him ever again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bennie’s DNA was a match, and the judge accepted it as evidence in his case. His execution has been postponed, and he had court scheduled for the next morning.  We talked for a little while longer. This time our conversation felt lighter, we finally said it. I couldn’t wait to be able to tell him in person.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Straight after I called Shaun and shared the good news. I also decided to call Gemma, she was my friend for the last ten years after all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She listened, but she was cold and very distanced.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Gemma, what is going on? Did I do something wrong ?’ I decided to ask her</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ No, everything is fine’ I knew it was a lie</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Listen, I think we need to talk. Do you want to go for coffee before work tomorrow? I really need to know what’s going on.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Sure, I will pop to your place at seven, ok? I need to go now. I am happy for you. See you tomorrow.’  She hang up before I managed to answer.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was anxious but happy at the same time. Austin and I took our relationship to the next level, we managed to save his life, depending on the outcome of tomorrow’s court he could be a free man soon. The feeling of being able to finally see him was amazing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The whole situation with Gemma was strange, but if she wanted to blow our friendship because of some stupid reason, I wouldn’t stop her. I had all I wanted at this moment, Austin</p>
<p>alive and safe, I knew I will probably have to wait for him, but I was ready for this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I lied in bed reading his messages, his beautiful poems.  <em>He is such a melt, but I love him so much. </em> Always playing the rough and scary guy but deep inside such a softy. He has never been in love, so he didn’t know how to act what to do, what to say, how to express his emotions but he did it the best way he could through his poems. I loved his soft side, only made him hotter.</p>
<p>The only thing that was missing that night was him next to me, his strong arms around me, but I knew deep inside that one day this will happen, and only the thought of what's going to happen once we finally get to be alone made me feel hot and dizzy. I wanted him so bad … If this wasn’t love, fuck knows what it was, but I didn’t care I just wanted to feel it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Next morning, I woke up with a smile, it was a good feeling. From now, it will only get better.</p>
<p>
  <em>Well, not entirely true.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I got ready to work, I was in the mood for some fancy clothes, I’ve put on my favourite black skater skirt, and cream ruffle trim shirt.</p>
<p>I was finishing straightening my hair when my doorbell rang.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Get in! The door is open’ I shouted from the corridor</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You shouldn’t leave your door unlocked’ Gemma came in, dropped her laptop bag on the sofa and went to the kitchen to take some coffee.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I came downstairs, we started with the usual chat about work, but the innocent conversation quickly changed direction to something I didn’t expect.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘So Gemma, I  can’t be postponing this any longer. We are friends for ten years, I can see that something is wrong. You are very distant ever since things with Austin been getting serious. You seem to be cold, and I can feel you want to tell me something. Now is the time’ I sat up straighter ‘Why did you say that Austin and I have no future, why are you so against him? You don’t even know him… Or something is happening that you don’t want to tell me about.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She looked at the mug, clearly getting annoyed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya, I have to say it … nobody else will. You look so happy I didn’t want to disturb this, but someone has to tell you. You should've stopped this at the begging when you found out he is on a death row. What are you doing with your life? This supposed to be just for fun, you took this whole dating online a bit too seriously. Frist Albert, days talking about how bad you feel about telling him to fuck off because you are not ready, instead of having fun one night like you did and let him go, forget it. Then Austin… If I knew that you will get so attached to him I would never tell you swipe… this is insane Maya! You can’t be in love with the guy you never met! A criminal! Luke wasn’t enough for you? Abuse, drugs, gangs, didn’t this teach you a lesson to stay away from guys like this?’  Her voice slowly started to rise</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Austin is not like Luke, he is not a criminal.’ I was lost of words, I had no idea she saw it that way.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ He is in prison, so he is a criminal. How do you even know he is real? You never met him, never heard him speak. He could be someone else…You got so naïve recently. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What are you talking about, he is real. Gemma… this is crazy. Where is this all coming from ?! ’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What is crazy? Being realistic? Let’s assume he is real, and he gets out of prison, what then? Do you really believe this will be a happy ever after? You will be a cute couple, doing cute coupley things? Open your eyes, Maya! He’s been locked for seven years, he has no idea what’s outside, who will give him a job?  Are you ready to be his babysitter? What do you know about his past? Nothing, only a few bits that aren’t pretty. What if he goes back to old habits, gangs, criminal world. Are you ready to follow him? Since when you got so soft and fucking naïve and weak? Life is not a pretty fairytale.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I just stood there with my mouth open lost for words.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I just wanted you to know that I won’t be sticking around if you choose him. I have a career I can’t allow myself being linked to a murderer.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>This was the point where she crossed the line, I couldn’t sit there and listen to the bullshit that was coming out of her mouth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ He is not a murderer Gemma! He is innocent! Why you hate him so much!? We proved his innocence last night! How can you say all that? You suppose to be my friend. Didn’t you say you want me to be happy? So guess what … Finally, I can see a possibility to be happy, after everything, after moths taking medications to be able to function every day. After sleepless miserable nights, I can finally live normally Gemma. And if you don’t like it .. well .. it is your call.’ I really hoped she will understand.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You see, that’s the problem with you. Is always you. I’m sick of it Maya, I’m sick of being the second, always ‘’the friend’’, your shadow. You are always the centre of attention. Wherever you walk, everyone sees you, everyone adores you, and I  am always behind. I’m sick of cleaning your mess all the time, making sure that you are OK… I told you to don’t get involved with Luke, but you didn’t listen to me, he nearly killed you, and you still felt sorry for him. He was a fucking junky, stealing your stuff and selling it for drugs, and you still felt sorry for him. And I was there listening to your bullshit every day telling you to leave him. But you didn’t listen to me. The fantastic Maya with her golden heart trying to help a junky, and when shit went down, everyone felt sorry for you. Poor Maya went through hell, but you put yourself in this shit. And you are doing it again…I’m tired Maya.. tired of being a second-best, you always get the best, and I am left with scraps. Every guy I ever laid my eyes on was interested in you … not me … you. Even Greg… still hoping you might change your mind. And now, you choosing a criminal again… I can’t … I can’t be here for you anymore.’ She was angry, her tone was cold, this wasn’t my friend; this was someone else.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Are you serious right now ?! How can you say that? I’ve been there for you every time you needed me, in college when your parents were divorcing I sat with you every night making sure you are OK. Helping you with your studies so you can pass the year. I stepped out if off my comfort zone every time you needed me. I’ve always put you; first, every guy I ever liked, you wanted so as a good friend. I always stepped aside for you to have fun for a few nights and toss them away like a used toy! So many potential relationships left for you play with. Why do you think I end up with Luke, huh?! Because I knew you wouldn’t want him so I finally could have someone just to myself, no matter how fucked up he was, but he was the only mine… Who risked her job to save your stupid ass when you decided to sleep with your married boss and got fired?! I did! I lied to Greg told him you have a finance degree so you could get a job. I’ve been helping you every day to do simple shit, just to don’t raise suspicions and don’t get you fired… I stepped away again for you and Greg because you wanted him. I could give him a chance, I could try to love him, but I didn’t because of you, for you to be happy. And what did you do? Fucked him a few times as you always do, just to get a promotion. I let that slip… because that‘s what friends do. I am baffled…I had no idea you really thought I am such a bad friend?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Is pointless to try to explain it to you. You won’t understand, you are too perfect to understand. I need to be by myself for a while, think about what to do with my life. You choose a different path. And I am happy for you, but I can’t be here for you with this. I can’t be your friend, not like that. You choose him, and that’s ok. But I can’t be a part of this, I need to think about my career and reputation. He is a criminal, if you can see the cons of this relationship, I am not the person to hold your hand this time’ She got up and walked to the living room to grab her laptop bag ‘Greg and I broke up, there is no point for me to try with him if he still thinks about you. I am also looking for another job I’m hoping to find something soon’ She looked at me and walked to the door</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I stood in the middle of the kitchen, I couldn’t believe it. I was hurt, angry and confused.</p>
<p>I just lost my best friend, well someone who I thought was my best friend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I called Greg and told him I will be working from home for the next few weeks. I promised him to explain everything, but he sounded like he already knew.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I focused on work that day, trying to forget what happened that morning. <em>After everything, I’ve done for her. Is that what a bad friend does? Caring? Maybe I didn’t do enough?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Later in the afternoon when I thought it can’t be worse I heard back from Austin, the judge decided he won’t be released yet, but they postponed his execution. Police were looking for Bennie. I knew it is not going to take long because I told them where I left him, that’s why I had to spend so much time at the station, filing a report, it was self-defence after all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But a few hours later Bennie’s been arrested and put in the same jail as Austin.</p>
<p>He was in grave danger, with Bennie and his thugs being there he could be killed. So his lawyer managed to get him an immediate transfer to another prison, but that meant we might lose contact if he couldn’t smuggle his phone. This was shit, but his life was more important than that, we could figure something out. My dad knows people, I could always find a way.</p>
<p>In a matter of minutes, he was gone, just like that. From now on, I had no idea if he was OK, if the transfer was successful, where he was. Only thing I knew was how much I loved him, he was everything I’ve got to keep me sane, he was my happiness wherever he was.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. First touch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maya asks for advise the wisest person she knows, and makes her decision, from there, it only gets better.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a continuation of Ludia's storyline:)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>It’s been four weeks since I last heard from Austin when he was transferred to another prison. The fact that I didn’t hear from him for so long was evident to me that they found his phone, and now we had no way to communicate. I wished he left me his lawyer’s number or at least name. I didn’t even know where they transferred him. I had nothing, and the unknown was killing me.</p>
<p>I called few jails around the area, but they couldn’t tell me anything as I wasn’t a relative, it was so frustrating. I started to feel so hopeless.</p>
<p>I spent every day working from home, barely leaving my house. Shaun moved with me temporarily after selling the house he shared with Olivia. He was my company every evening, mostly playing video games or watching horror movies eating the most unhealthy food possible.</p>
<p>I couldn’t speak to Gemma, we didn’t talk since she walked out of my house that day, I missed her. Every day I’ve been thinking about what she said, and every day I believed more and more that she could be right.</p>
<p>Is it possible I am making the same mistake again? Am I ready for this? To hold his hand until he is ready? Am I strong enough to support him emotionally being so unstable and fragile myself? All those questions were flying in my head every day. I knew that there is only one person in this world who could help me understand… my father.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was on my way to my parent's house.  I decided to talk to my dad, he’s been back from his deployment for a week now, we welcomed him back as always on the day of his arrival. This time he came back with good news, he asked to be moved, and from now on, he will be working stationary, training new soldiers—no more deployments. He decided that he is not fit enough anymore o continue, and he wanted to spend more time with the family. My mum was over the moon, I didn’t see her so happy for years, she could finally have her husband every day.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I parked my car on the driveway, took out my dad’s favourites cookies I made last night, and lilies for my mum.</p>
<p>Before I managed to get to the door, I saw it opening.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Here, she is my sweet muffin!’ My dad smiled from ear to ear, he looked so adorable—this big chunk of a man filling the whole door with his covered in tattoos muscles. Usually looking so scary and rough, but standing there with his smile like a little baby, just melted my heart.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Morning, daddy! I have cookies for you. I’m sure you missed my baking’ I smiled and hugged him. His strong arm covered me entirely ‘ Gosh, you are getting bigger and bigger’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Come on, get in! Mum already made tea.’ He said, still holding me. ‘ Alicia, look what found outside the door, she has cookies, so I let her in’ He laughed pinching my cheek ‘ You look beautiful sweetheart ‘ he said quietly pulling me to another hug.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I loved my dad so much, even tho deep down I hated him for leaving us every time, not being with us every day but loved him for his golden heart, nobody could deny he loved his family and cared for us as much as he could. I was happy for having him back, for good this time I missed him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Richard, you better help me with this, is too heavy’ My mum shouted from the living room, she was pushing her old piano from the middle of the room but didn’t move a millimetre.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Look at you little bird, trying to play a strong woman’ My dad laughed and walked to her, he picked her up in the air and moved aside</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Not funny Richard, not funny.’ She said with half-smile.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Are you moving your piano? It’s been in the living room for years’ I said surprised</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Your dad bought me a new one, we are moving this one to the garage, is worth a lot I’m not getting rid of it ‘ She said looking at my dad pushing the piano with zero effort.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s great, you could do with the new one’ I smiled and put the bowl with the cookies on the table.  I noded my mum towards the kitchen, she walked with me while my dad was in the garage.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I started to put the lilies in the water.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What’s wrong, sweetie?’ She whispered</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I need to talk to dad about Austin, I am so confused and lost in this whole situation, I need his honest advice. Everything you and Shaun told me, also Gemma… I have no idea what to do. I want to really start looking for him but what Gemma said is stopping me somehow. I need his point of view on this, he never takes anyone’s side, and that’s what I need.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I understand you are confused. Nobody can tell you what to do, but he is the right person to tell what’s best for you, without sugar-coating. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>My dad didn’t know about Austin, I asked both my mum and Shaun to keep it a secret for now, but it was time for him to know. I needed his advice the most.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We spent a peaceful afternoon together, I helped my mum with lunch and after we sat in the garden enjoying the late spring sun.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Dad… I need to talk to you about something. I need your honest advice’  I started</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You can tell me anything sweet muffin, I will do my best to help you ‘  he smiled warmly</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I told him everything, didn’t miss any details, he listened, there was no judgement in his look.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘… and now I have no idea what to do, should I risk and try to find him or leave it because it is not worth it? I am not sure if I’m ready … Gemma could be right. Am I putting myself in danger again?’ I looked in his eyes, he stared at my mum with his warm and caring look</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Your mum already told me, but I wanted to hear your side … and first if all, I am so proud of you... You saved his life, risking your own… I can’t say it was a wise move, but you did the way you thought was the best. And that’s very brave… And now … I will start with my usual questioning first before I tell you what I think. First question… why did you decide to help him? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I signed  ‘ I saw something real in him, something pure. Everyone else before give up on him as soon as they heard he was in jail, and me being me I didn’t want to judge him only base on that. We were getting close very quickly, I felt like he deserved my help, and he couldn’t do it alone.’  </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ok, next question … how does he make you feel? How do you feel when you talk to him?’ He really wanted me to open up, just spill my feelings. I knew he would do that, and I was ready.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Like nobody ever did, every day was brighter when we talked. His messages in the morning were the only thing that made me smile. He gave me the strength to get up every day. I feel like he healed me by just talking to me, about everything and nothing. Just being there on the other side. We’ve built a connection that I never thought was possible.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Did you ever doubted him? Did you ever think that he isn’t telling you the full truth? … Just yes or no.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked at my mum, smiled gently</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Do you love him?’ He looked me deep in the eyes like he wanted to read my thoughts, I could see that he already knew the answer but wanted me to say it at loud. ‘ Just yes or no.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes‘ I said without hesitation, my heart pounded in my chest</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ok...last one … how do you feel now? You didn’t hear from him for a while, how do you feel?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Horrible, hopeless. Like a part of me is missing, the part that he took with him that kept me sane.  This little part that use to put a smile on my face every morning, that small part of my happiness… Not knowing where he is if he is OK is killing me, and I feel like I am drowning again like I am taking a step back .’My eyes were filling up with tears.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>My dad was quiet, looking at the distance. I waited for his response like waiting for a sentence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I will be absolutely honest with you as I always am. This isn’t easy, he means a world to you; that’s clear. Does he love you back? From what you told me, and messages you showed me … yes, he does. What I can I see is a man, lost, alone and scared. But was lucky enough to meet you, loving, caring but at the same time determined and stubborn piece of work. You found a human being needing your help, and you did what you had to without hesitation. Now when you found your feelings, you are scared you will fail, fail in supporting him. But.. you are taking a risk, what if he isn’t how you pictured him? Risk of discovering more secrets about him, about his past that you won’t like. You can take that risk and trust your heart and him, or walk away never knowing, and most likely regret it for the rest of your life… and now … let's reverse the card and put yourself in his position. He spent the last seven years in prison, most of his young life, in the place he can’t trust anyone, completely alone. Knowing that he will be dead soon, nothing to lose. He meets online a beautiful girl, who didn’t reject him like others did, who showed him, love, feeling he never knew before, he decides to open up and trust this girl. And puts his life in the hands of the stranger. He gets attached; finally, someone sees more in him than just an inmate, criminal or worse a murderer. But then this girl decides to risk her life to save his because she believes in him…Now the conclusion is, who takes a bigger risk here? You by trusting him to be who he says he is? To take him in and guide and support to stand on his feet again and possibly be happy together or take him in and find out he isn’t what you thought he was. Risk being in the same situation as before? A situation you already know how to get out from. Or him, trusting a stranger with his life. Give up an only chance he has to be free to someone who could be working for the police just to get a confession of him, or worse, one of his bothers thugs looking to mess with him. Risk letting his guard down for the girl who might not be even real? Think, who takes a bigger risk? You being free and able to live your life the way you want? Or him putting his life in your hands with no chance for a normal life if he decides to not trust you? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I knew that asking him for advice will make everything a lot clearer, after hearing all this, I felt like my decision has been made, it was clear to me what I have to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Thank you dad.’ I reached for his hand, wiping my tears with the other ‘ I knew you can help me, I knew you will understand both of us.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I am always here for you to advise you, but never tell you what to do. A decision is yours’ he squeezed my hand gently ‘ And don’t worry about Gemma, she will come around. Is not the first time she does this’ he smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I hope she will, and decision? I’ve made it.. but I will need your help’ I said</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I do what I can.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I need to find out where he is, I called every prison in the area, but they won’t tell me anything. You know people. Is there anyone who could help us find him? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My mum smiled and kissed the top of my head ‘ I’m so proud of you sweetie, sometimes we need to take the risk to be happy. And dad is right, Gemma is a troubled girl, she just needs space. I’m sure she misses you the same as you miss her. This friendship is forever, she just needs to understand.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I won’t be able to live with myself if I just walk away from him… I have to try, Gemma has to understand this.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>My dad checked his phone, got up and walked to the house. He spoke with someone on the phone. He came back a few minutes later, sat back in his chair and looked me in the eyes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘We will find him, it might take a few days, weeks but we will find him… he was transferred from Perch County jail right?  ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes’ <em>Looks like mum didn’t spare any details</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ There are only a few places that he could’ve been transferred too, from there. I will make a few phone calls and see what I can do.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I knew I can count on him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A couple of days later Shaun and I were relaxing on the sofa after a busy day. I have no idea how we got into watching The Shawshank Redemption, but we both loved this movie.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I swear we should get a subscription for this chipper place’  Shaun laughed licking his fingers and putting the empty box on the table.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maybe you, I only get the fish and salad from there. You are the one stuffing your face with a double portion of chips ‘ I pointed at the box ‘No judgement brother’ I laughed patting his stomach</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ And you think getting a salad will justify this pack off Oreos that you just finished… chips are made from potatoes and potatoes are vegetables, that’s how I see it.’ He said, looking in the bag for more.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ And Oreos are made in heaven, so there are harmless. That’s how I see it ‘ I laughed munching my last Oreo.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We finished the movie, both tearing as usual. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I meant to ask you... how was your date with Angel? You seem to be very invested in her shelter problems. Will they still go ahead with closing it?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Looks like yes, I’m trying to help her as much as I can but is not easy to find a home for so many animals, I was considering adopting Teddy but not when I am here in your house.  I don’t want him to chew on your shoes … ‘ he laughed ’date was excellent, we got closer, but we are taking it slow. Small steps, she is lovely and definitely worth an effort,  so I don’t want to screw it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You should adopt him, I don’t mind. Plus is for a good cause. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Really? Thanks, I might do that. Angel will be happy, he is a great dog, you will love him.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Suddenly I heard my phone ringing from the kitchen. I got up quickly and run to answer.</p>
<p>I’ve been waiting for my dad’s call about Austin, but I saw a strange unknown number.</p>
<p>I answered a bit unsure. I definitely wasn’t expecting what came next.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hello, this is as a collect call from Shelton County jail from inmate Austin Russo. To accept charges, please press one.<em>’ Oh my god!</em> My breath stopped, my legs suddenly felt weak, my heart was pounding in my chest. I quickly pressed number one on my phone, a long waiting tune started to play, for seemed like an eternity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya? Baby, are you there?’ I heard men’s voice answering the phone. The empty glass I’ve been holding landed on the floor, smashing into pieces.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Austin?... Is that you?’ I sat on the chair, trying to calm my breath, completely ignoring the broken glass all over my kitchen floor</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Of course, I promised I will be in touch, remember?’ I felt the familiar butterflies, this time a lot stronger. <em>I can’t believe it’s really him. </em>His voice was deep, smoky and husky but warm and kind. Exactly like I imagined him to sound. I smiled and breathed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am so happy to hear you… I missed you. Are you ok?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I missed you too, I was so pissed when they found my phone, I tried to get it back but only made it worse. I’ve been thinking about you every day… I was terrified; I will never hear from you again, that you will forget me.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Austin, I told you that won’t happen …I’ve been trying to find you, I called so many prisons asking for you. I felt so hopeless… You have no idea how glad I am, you are alive.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You thought I’m dead?’ he laughed and I felt like I can finally hear that sexy cockiness from our conversations‘ I am tougher than you think baby… by the way … you have a beautiful voice.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Cheesy!’ I laughed ‘ You better tell me if you are OK? What the judge is saying? Will they release you soon?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I am OK now that I am talking to you… I am waiting for the court, I didn’t hear anything since they moved me here. My lawyer says everything looks promising, but he doesn’t know anything yet. I hope to hear from him soon.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Austin they have no rights to keep you in prison any longer than necessary. What they are waiting for? You are innocent …what other proof they need?! This is nonsense!... was seven years not enough?! Is your lawyer even doing what he supposed to?  From what I can see is not!’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Look at you, so feisty’ I could literally see that smirk on his face that I saw so many times on the photos.‘ My lawyer is doing what he can, but this takes time is, not just this one case they taking into consideration. They are looking at my past as well. But the good news is … execution is out of the picture which means you saved my life …I don’t know how I will ever repay you for this…’  He’s voice got softer and warmer</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You can repay me by bringing your sexy ass to me, and give me that kiss that you promised. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>’As far as I remember I promised more than a kiss… And I keep my promises’ <em>Damn! that cockiness again!</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well, now I have to hold you for it … point is I need you here ASAP! ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That might be a bit tricky at this moment…Now that I can finally hear your voice I am dying to see you.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Trust me, I am already googling where Shelton County Jail is.’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Why am I not surprised ?’ He laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Because we both know how much we want to see each other?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You have no idea … now that I don’t have my phone here I only have your pictures in my head, I can’t look at them every day like I did before. ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I could do something about that’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oh, really? What’s that ?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You will see.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Here we go, teasing …Not fair!…I really don’t want this to finish, I could talk to you all day … but I have only one minute left.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s shit, but I understand, will we be able to speak again soon?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes, I will call you as soon as I can… I am so happy I could hear your voice … I couldn’t wait any longer…I fucking missed you, baby.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I missed you too… but now it can only be better’ I heard beeping on the other side, we were running out of time</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love you.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love you too, Austin</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Speak to you soon, I will be dreaming of you ‘ The call got disconnected before I even opened my mouth to answer</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I sat in my chair, staring into my laptop. I looked at the floor, the smashed glass was gone, and Shaun was sitting next to me with a massive grin on his face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I guess I don’t have to ask who that was? He passed me a glass of wine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I still can’t believe it, he called… I heard his voice … I keep pinching myself.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’m glad he did. I texted Dad, and told him he is in Shelton … he was surprised that they transferred him there is a particular place for inmates who are waiting to be released or with short sentences… I checked online, and there is a significant turnaround there, apparently a very chaotic place. For someone like him who spent many years in one place must be difficult there.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ He didn’t sound like he was alright, I could hear a lot of noise in the background. They are keeping him waiting, Shaun… he said they are looking at his past, what if they put him for longer because of something he did years ago?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ There is no point in speculating, what if … If you call Shelton tomorrow morning you can sign for a visit on Saturday and I will suggest you do it’ He said sipping his wine</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shortly after, we went to bed. I couldn’t focus on any movie I had only one thing on my mind, his voice so deep and smoky … it suite him so well.</p>
<p>That night I slept peacefully knowing that he is fine, dreaming about him, this time, my dream was a lot more real.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Finally was Saturday, I managed to book a surprise visit. I got up with a smile on my face. I was excited and nervous at the same time. The feeling of being able to see him, touch him… only for a short moment give me a massive boost of energy. This wasn't the ideal first meeting, but it didn’t matter at the time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I wore skinny blue jeans with a black bodysuit, didn’t want to go to over the top. It wasn’t a date after all but felt like the most special day in my life.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You are not leaving much to the imagination, sis !’ Shaun laughed sanding in my bedroom door</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Is not like I am naked… I’m fully covered’ I frowned turning off my hair straightener</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You don’t have to’ He laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I rolled my eyes and looked one last time in the mirror ‘Perfection.’ I smiled and winked at Shaun</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ugh… please’ He rolled his eyes and laughed. ‘I can see those Oreo’s smiling at me.’ He pointed at my stomach</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Excuse me! Who is talking? Someone who is slowly turning into a big chip’ I frowned and pointed my finger at his yellow t-shirt</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘But for now, I’m still a skinny and sexy, French fry.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ok, ok my double-chinned skinny French fry. I have to go ‘ I smiled, give him a kiss on the cheek and walked off… I turned around and saw him investigating his chin in the mirror, <em>Adorable!</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>After an hour drive, I sat in my car taking a few deep breaths <em>Ok, Maya you can do it!</em></p>
<p>I walked inside. A woman behind the desk looked at me with a big grin like expecting me to say something</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hi, I came to visit …’  I smiled, but she cut me off</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Name’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya Clark’  She turned to the big monitor without a word</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ID?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oh yes, here it is ‘ I smiled passing her my ID, she checked my details and turned back to me giving me my ID back</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Take a seat there, someone will come for you’ She pointed at a few chairs by the main door.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I smiled and walked towards the chairs—<em>such a lovely lady.</em></p>
<p>While waiting, I looked around <em> What an awful place. </em> The corridor was busy, police were bringing new prisoners every few minutes, mostly young people, mostly scared. I looked at a young man, clearly high. He reminded me of Luke, how many times I picked him up from the streets in the same state, believing that one day he would stop. Blindly hoping there is a chance for him, but now I knew that there was no chance he could ever stop using. Suddenly I heard my name.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Clark!?’  I looked up, mid-aged man, clearly a warden, stood next to me with a small smile</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes, that's me ‘ I jumped from my seat</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Anette, I will take this one’ He shouted to the woman behind the desk, she nodded with the same angry grin as before.’ Follow me’ He said warmly</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I followed him through a big door that led to a long corridor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Russo, huh?’ He smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Aha’ I nodded returning a smile</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am going to cut to the point… my name is Kevin. Your dad called me a few days ago, gave me a few details and as I am a man of my word I promised I will help. I owe your father a big favour.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘He didn’t tell me …’ I said, surprised <em> Richard Clark, I hate you! He could’ve warned me! </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s fine’ He smiled.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> We stopped by one of the doors. Kevin pulled a bunch of keys and unlocked it. Inside was a small room with only one table and two chairs opposite each other next to the small window.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>’ This is a room where inmates usually talk to their lawyers, regular visits are only permitted in the visiting room, but as I said before I owe your father a big favour.’ He smiled ‘ You will be alone, but this room is monitored ‘He pointed at the camera in the corner.’ I booked one hour for you.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Thank you’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘There is a small shop, just around this corner if you want to get something. I will leave you here and go and get him. I will be back in a few minutes’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Kevin…does he know I’m here ?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No’ He said warmly and walked off</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I bought two coffees and went back to the room, closed the door and walked to the window. I should’ve guessed my dad would do something like this.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Ten minutes later, I heard footsteps, and I heard Kevin talking.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am taking them off but don’t brag about it around. I don’t want the others to know there are special treatments here.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I stood by the window, with my heart beating faster, I was nervous but in a good way. I’ve been waiting for this moment for months, ever since we started talking the need of seeing him was growing every day more.</p>
<p>Suddenly the door opened, and he walked in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Maya?!’ He stopped, shocked, god, he was gorgeous, not just handsome but beautiful. Standing there in his grey tank top and orange trousers, all his muscles exposed. <em>He is hotter than imagined.</em> My stomach twisted in knots, my heart pounded in my chest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Last time I checked’ I smiled wildly. I couldn’t wait any longer, as soon as the door closed I ran to him and wrapped my arms around him. He buried his face in my neck, his strong arms embraced me. I could feel our hearts beating like they wanted to jump out of our chests and become one. My eyes started to fill with tears, but I didn’t let them fall, this wasn’t a time for tears.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I fucking missed you, baby.’ He said I could feel his warm breath on my neck sending shivers down my spine. We pulled away for our eyes to meet for the first time. He cupped my face with one hand, the other one still resting on my back. I traced the back of his neck with my fingers down to his muscular chest, still looking in his eyes<em>.</em> He smiled, there were so much warmth and love in his deep blue eyes, I could get lost in this gaze. He rubbed my cheek with his thumb, and before I knew his lips met mine, warmth spread throughout my entire body. I felt like I am exactly where I suppose to be. In seconds I understood that everything that happened in the last few months all those feelings, tears and laughs led to this moment. The kiss was slow at first, he brushed his lips gently against mine; his hand rested below my ear as our breaths mingled. I ran my fingers down his neck, he pulled me closer until there was no space between us. His tongue slipped inside my mouth, gentle but demanding, We’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, the urgency started to take the lead we knew we don’t have much time, but we didn’t want this end.</p>
<p>Time stopped, nothing mattered at this moment only us, we didn’t care where we are and who will see us. We waited for this moment far too long. The kiss became more urgent, faster and stronger he let half growl, half moan from the back of his throat, were both so hungry for one another. I wished so badly we weren’t here, but we knew we can’t go any further. Not here.</p>
<p>We pulled away, Austin brushed my hair gently from my face, looking at me like he wanted to memorize every part of me just in case if he would never see me again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love you Maya’ He whispered resting his forehead on mine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love you too’ I smiled. <em>I really did like I never loved anyone before.</em></p>
<p> I ran my hand on his muscular arm when my hand met his, he pulled it up and kissed my fingers, with his eyes not leaving mine even for a second.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You are so beautiful, I can’t believe you are here…This must be a dream.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I smiled and pinched him gently below the ribs, he jumped laughing</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oho.. someone is ticklish‘ I laughed. ‘ Did that felt real?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes it fucking did.. ouch’ he smiled rubbing the place</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘So it is not a dream.’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He wrapped his arm around my back and pulled me for another short but sweet kiss. I cupped his face he smiled when we finally pulled away. I took a few seconds to look at his beautiful face. He had a dimple on the right side. <em>How come I didn’t see it before? This is so fucking sexy and cute. </em>He got closer and kissed my forehead.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Let’s sit down’ he said, taking my hand in his and leading me to the table. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We sat opposite each other. I pushed the cup with coffee towards him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Still warm’ I smiled taking a sip of my one</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I was freaking out, I thought that my lawyer came. They usually tell me a day before when he comes, so I thought that something happened. How come we were able to meet here?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I was surprised as well, I came prepared for a room full of people. But then Kevin took me here and told me that my dad called him and that he owes him a favour. I didn’t object, I guess he knows what he is doing .’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hang on… your dad?’ <em>Shit, of course, I didn’t tell him that my whole family knows about him.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well, yeah…let’s say my dad being a first rank Capitan knows a lot of people. He has a tendency of taking risks for others, so I’m not surprised few people owe him some favours.’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Are you telling me that your father knows about us?!’ His expression hardened</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Aha…in fact my mum and my brother as well’ I reached to grab his hand and give it a gentle squeeze ‘ Relax, they are very much with me here. They are ok with us, they supported me all the way. Shaun was the one driving me to Bennie’s that night. If not him, I don’t think I would make it, he kept me focused and calm.’ I said, still holding his hand, his expression softened like he accepted it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You have no idea how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me. You didn’t have to, you could’ve just unmatched me and go back to your life, but you believed me …’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. We will talk about being grateful when you are free.’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He looked at me with his signature cocky smirk on his lips ‘ Oh yeah? I can’t wait to have that conversation.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Who said anything about conversation’ I smiled and lifted my brow</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Baby, don’t do that here … I won’t be able to stop myself. Just looking at you gives me so many thoughts.I am having a hard time controlling myself, you are so beautiful. ’ He said looking at me hungrily</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Right back at you’ I smiled ‘ But yes you are right, I’m sorry, this is not the place… tell me, how are you? I read a bit about this place, it seems very chaotic.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yeah, it wasn’t easy to adapt to this place. I have to keep my eyes open all the time. People coming and going every day. I am not used to this. Before I had a cell for myself, now I have to share, every week or two I have a new cellmate. So I can’t let my guard down at any point.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I really don’t understand why they are still keeping you here. You should be free already.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Is not that easy baby, but I spoke to my lawyer a few days ago, and there is progress. Court date should be scheduled soon.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘They better hurry the fuck up. What if any of Bennie’s thugs get here?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘It would have to be at least five of them to get me, and that not gonna happen. Took him years to get few fuckers into Perch’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘If you say so’ I smiled, he smiled back</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘This wasn’t the first meeting I planned for us, but I am so happy that you are here.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘We will have plenty of time once you are free. When you called me I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to see you.’ He brushed his fingers on mine, our fingers interlocked</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Time went flying, but we enjoyed every moment of it. Our conversations were different than the chats, a lot more real and profound. We could finally see each other's expressions, hear each other's laugh; it was like we clicked on an entirely new level. The next level.</p>
<p>I told him to give his lawyer my details just in case, I didn’t want to lose track of</p>
<p>him again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We heard the door unlocking, and Kevin’s head popped in.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am taking you back in five.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The door closed again. We really didn’t want this to end. I got up from my chair and approached him. I stood between his legs cupped his face, he wrapped his arms around my waist with one hand tracing lower to my hips. I lowered my heard ready to kiss him, but I stopped, he pushed for a kiss, but I pulled away gently ‘ Promise me, you will give my details to your lawyer’ I said looking in his eyes. He face trapped in my hands, I could hear his pounding heart.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya … I..’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Promise’ I whispered</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I promise’ he said. I pulled his face to mine and kissed his lips. We drowned in a deep and passionate kiss. ‘Fuck Maya … I want you so bad’ He breathed in my mouth letting a quiet moan.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well…You will have to swallow your pride and do everything possible to get out of here’ I pulled away.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The door suddenly opened, and Kevin entered the room.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘It’s time lovebirds’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Austin stood up, grabbed my chin gently and lifted my face, and kissed.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I love you, baby. You are my everything, everything I’ve got… remember that’ He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around me just for a second. He walked towards Kevin, who closed handcuffs on his wrists. I stood there watching him walk away, our eyes met for a part of a second one last time before he was gone.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Skylar</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Austin counts his days before the last court.Luckily his new cellmate makes it a bit easier.<br/>Maya and Gemma see each other again after weeks from the argument.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Russo!’ I heard from the corridor.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I got up from my cell floor after doing push-ups, the workout was the only thing that kept me disconnected from all the noise in here that was getting into me day by day more.</p>
<p>I approached the bars while wiping the sweat from my brow.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Mail for you’ I saw Jason approaching. He was one of the worse wardens I’ve ever met, one of those assholes who overuse their power to bring everyone else down. I knew him from my early days in Perch, he never liked me and didn’t have any problem with showing it. He always wanted to challenge himself and trying to rub me the wrong way, but sadly for him, it only worked once. Ever since they moved me here, he was on me every chance he got, and today wasn’t any different.</p>
<p>‘Looks like our pretty princess got himself a girl… is that the chick that came the other day? Fine ass …’ he said sniffing the envelope with this stupid smile on his ugly face. I felt my blood starting to boil, my jaw clenched when he approached the bars. <em>Keep fucking calm.</em></p>
<p>He passed me the envelope but didn’t want to let go, I looked in his eyes. He brought his face closer and whispered ‘Is a shame you didn’t fuck her on that table, that would’ve been quite a view.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I pulled the envelope from his hand, got even closer to his face, looking down on him. He was a small fat prick with a bold head, playing strong but I beat the shit out of him a few years back. But he knew I won’t do it now, not being so close to freedom.</p>
<p>‘Unfortunately for you, it is a view you will never see.’ I walked off, I could sense his fury.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I sat on the bed looking at the envelope. <em>Of course, it is from her. </em>I recognized now the familiar sweet smell of her perfume. I opened the envelope inside were two photos of her and a pink note stuck on one of them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’Surprise ’’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I smiled and looked at the pictures, there were different from the ones she sent me before. On the first one, she smiled, with her hair blown by the wind standing on the beach, golden sun glowing on her face, waves covering her naked legs, while she held her dress. On the second picture, she was holding a bouquet of white lilies. Her gorgeous eyes looking right at me. <em>She is so beautiful</em>.</p>
<p>On the back of the second photo, she wrote :</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘’ Life isn’t perfect, but every second with you is. I can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to miss you anymore. ‘’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I stared at both photos, remembering every second of our time together a few days ago and how I felt being around her, her smile so sincere and kind, those beautiful olive eyes so peaceful. Still, with this spark that instantly drove me crazy, she didn’t have to even try. Her perfect body, so delicate and hot at the same time, just perfect. That raven black hair, so soft like silk.</p>
<p>All those feelings I never felt before, where did they even come from? I knew I cared about her, she was special.  But that moment I saw her in the flesh, touched her, kissed. All those weird new feelings made me realise she was something else. There wasn’t just a physical attraction but this enormous emotional connection that we’ve built over the months. Just being there with her, talk, laugh, touch made me feel all sort of different ways. Ways that I never experienced.</p>
<p>I didn’t know if that’s how love felt like, I never been in love before. I only knew that I don’t want to stop feeling it. She became the most important person in my life, the only person I loved.</p>
<p>I missed her, and that somehow scared me, the feeling of losing her like I’ve lost my pop. That thought only confirmed that I have to protect her at all costs, even if that cost is my own life, after all, she saved mine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I was here, days from my last court day thanks to her, and the only thought in my head was, how did I even get so lucky? I made a promise to myself that I would never come back to my old life. This was a chance for me to start again, and I was ready to do everything to use the most of it. Not only for myself but for her, I wanted her to know that everything she did for me was worth it. From the moment I saw her, she became my main goal. Making her smile every day, protect and feel special was the only thing I wanted to do.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I’ve been lost in my thoughts, staring at Maya’s pictures missing her more and more every second.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Girlfriend?’ I heard a voice snapping me from my thoughts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It was Skylar, he was my new cellmate, he was put in here temporarily a week ago, he got accused of starting a fire in his school’s lab. He kept saying he is innocent but isn’t everyone here saying that? Somehow, I believed the kid. He did look like a troublemaker, but he didn’t strike me as someone who would risk people’s lives for a bit of fun. Whatever fun was for him.</p>
<p>I’ve made a small connection with this kid, he also had a girl on the outside. After leaving her behind, he tried to escape but got caught, she had no idea he was locked up, he promised to come back for her. Ironically enough, they also met on Lovelink.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Huh?’ I looked at him confused, he wasn’t in the cell before I sat down.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> ‘I asked if this is your girlfriend?’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>Is she? What is she for me apart from the first girl I ever loved?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Kind of…’ I said still holding the photos</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Jason is talking about her around. He is such an asshole, everyone knows now she came to visit you… but lucky you. You will be out soon. Is it true what they are saying? ’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What they are saying?’ I asked, already getting annoyed. I knew exactly what Jason was saying about Maya, he made sure I can hear it each time. <em> I swear if not for her I would finish him the first chance I have.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That she saved your ass from the death row’ He said a little bit unsure if he should</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well, they already saying it so is no point for me to lie, I will be out of here in few days anyway… Yes, she did, she proved my innocence and saved my ass. But she did a lot more than that. Unfortunately for you, this is only for me and her to know.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s sick, mate! I won’t ask for more, that’s none of my business… only one …What’s her name?’ He asked, looking at the photos I’ve been holding.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya’ I said with a slight hesitation sliding the photos back into the envelope and putting it under my pillow. Connection or not I can’t trust him, he’s been here only a week.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You know I never thought that women can have such power over us men. It takes only one pretty little person to change our way of seeing things. I’ve never imagined myself wanting to pump the breaks after meeting her. Crazy huh? This whole situation showed me that it is ok to have some fun, but it is time to grow up’ He laughed laying in bed, looking at the ceiling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Better late than never’ I whispered and approached the bars and waved to the warden. Luckily Jason was walking on the other side of the corridor, so I didn’t have to see his ugly face.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘It’s my time’ I pointed at the clock. We had times scheduled when we can leave our cells, and my time was already running ‘ I need to use the phone.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A young warden – clearly new, unlocked the cell and let me out. ‘I don’t know if you will manage to get to the phones today, but you can try.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I looked around the hall when walking to the phones. Most of those guys were kids, barley eighteen, probably first time seeing jail. That reminded me of my early days in prison, I wasn’t much older than them. They have so much to learn if they want to survive here, but lucky for me all this soon will be in the past.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I was getting closer to one of the free phones, one of the new ones got up and started to walk fast towards it. I looked at him, he was tall but skinny, clearly exhausted. He looked like he didn’t have a good start here, he knew I could beat the shit out of him without breaking a sweat, so he decided to back off. I got to the phone and looked at him again.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I will wave you once I’m done, you can use it then’ I said, he nodded and sat down by the table. <em> I might look big and scary, but I’m not a monster.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I dialled Maya’s number, hoping she will answer. It was in the middle of the afternoon, she was probably working, but I had to talk to her, I missed her too much.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hello handsome’ I heard her sweet voice</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hello, beautiful’ I smiled ‘ I hope I’m not disturbing, it’s a middle of your working day after all.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You are never disturbing me, it’s not a very busy day anyway. I will be getting ready to go to our office party soon.’ </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Office party? Sounds boring ‘ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You are right. It’s not really a party. It’s five years of the company kind of party, boring speeches and mostly boring people’ She laughed ‘ But I have to go, Greg has some surprise for me. I have no idea what it is.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maybe a nice pay rise, I’m sure you are working really hard.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oh no, definitely not. I am already getting way more than an average accountant. I will find out when I get there I guess… And how are you? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’m good, a lot better after receiving your photos.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ You like it? I picked the best I had.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Very… you are so beautiful and just wanted to say that I also can’t wait for the day when I don’t have to miss you anymore.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Cheesy!’ She laughed ‘ Soon… now is just downhill. Your lawyer said probably next week, so you better start packing your sexy ass, because I already made a space for you in the house.’ I could hear how happy she was, and somehow that made me even happier.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You didn’t have to, I only need space in your bed, I don’t think we are going to leave it for some time, so the rest can wait.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well honey, challenge accepted, my bed is very comfortable and has more than enough space for two naked bodies’ Her voice has soft and sexy</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s all we need’ I said, but at this point, I couldn’t think about anything else, just me and her. But that wasn’t the typical feeling, it was only her I wanted, nobody else just her. I craved her like never craved any woman, I never saw her naked, never touched that way, but the feeling of having her drove me crazy. Just the thought of it made me lose control of myself. <em>What the hell is she doing with me?!</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>‘Austin? Are you there? Are you OK?’ <em>Shit, did I go quiet?</em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>‘Yes, I’m here, baby. I just got lost in thoughts for a second. I just can’t wait to be close to you again.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Soon… just remember to let me know when is your big day. I want to be there to take you home.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I will definitely let you know. Listen, baby, I need to go. The phones are very busy today. And there is this kid here, I think he is having a hard time. I’m sure he would want to talk to someone familiar. I will be out soon, and he might be here for some time’ I said looking at the kid, some other guys were circling around him like</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Look at you getting all soft’ she said</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘It’s all you, you showed me that helping others is important. You helped me why I can’t do the same for someone else? ‘</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love this part of you, you know?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘And I love you.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Love you too. Go, and start getting ready. You need to be in your top form when you get here’ <em> Damit, again that sexy voice! </em>‘Bye, handsome’ She hangs up before I even got my thoughts together</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I waved to the kid sitting by the table, he approached me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Thank you, I’ve been waiting for two days to call my dad.’ He said</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What’s your name, kid?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Taylor’ He said evidently scared</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Listen, Taylor. I will be in the library. I can give you few tips how to make your time in here easier, you can come and find me there in about half an hour… and now go and call your dad’ I said patting him on the shoulder.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>A few hours later, after talking to Taylor, I was sitting in my cell reading some boring book, that I managed to sneak from the library. Skylar was quiet, he looked worried.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘What’s bothering you?’ I asked tossing the book aside</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He shuffled in his bed but kept looking at the ceiling.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘You know… my whole life I’ve been doing a lot of crazy shit. Adrenaline was my second name, running away from cops all the time, and never getting caught. I didn’t care at the time, but as soon as I wanted to chill, stop this and focus on something that might be more important, I  got caught  and put in here for something I actually didn’t do.’ </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘When did you realise it? That you need to pump the breaks?’ I felt like he needed to get it off his chest.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘After the date. I broke into the chief police officer’s house and invited her over, she had no idea. I wanted to impress her, plus a bit off adrenaline … but he came back home, we had to run, I thought she was behind me, but she wasn’t. I felt horrible for leaving her there, so I went back, but she wasn’t there anymore. She was fuming after that,  I thought that she won’t speak to me again, and that made me think, what if I am taking things a little bit too far? Is OK if I’m putting myself at risk, but someone else is an entirely different story. She kind of brought me back to earth. I really like her and …, and I hope she will wait for me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘No the best choice for a date, I  have to admit, but you’ve learned something from it, that’s the most important’ I said looking at Jason standing by our cell. <em>What the fuck does he want now?</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Quinn, you are out! Pack your ass and kiss the princess goodbye.’ Jason said, opening the cell.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He started to pick up his stuff, he turned to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That was quick, I just spoke with my lawyer a couple of hours ago.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Well, you are free now, make sure you take that girl of yours on a proper date’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I definitely will, we should keep in touch after you are out of here.’ He said, pointing at my pillow  ‘Take care, mate. Thanks for everything. And good luck with Maya.’ He held his hand towards me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Take care of yourself, Skylar’ I shook his hand and patted him on the arm.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Ok, hurry up, kid!’ Jason called him, Skyler walked off. That’s was it, now it was just me left still waiting.</p>
<p>I reached under my pillow, where I left the envelope with Maya’s photos. Next to it was a note with his phone number and email address, I’ve put the message into the envelope hoping that there won’t be any inspections before I’m out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I spent the next few days with Taylor, giving him some tips on how to survive in this place. At least nobody messed with him when I was around.</p>
<p>He was put in jail for five months for stealing money, his father was sick, and they didn’t have money for his treatment. Taylor was only eighteen and terrified, older inmates were taking advantage of his weakness, he wasn’t strong enough to fight back, which made him an easy target. And having Jason walking around and only looking for trouble didn’t make it any easier. He already picked Taylor as his next target.</p>
<p>I told him to hang around in the library, keep a low profile and stay away from other guys problems.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I asked myself many times, how this was possible?  For the last seven years, I never helped any of the other inmates. Always kept away from others and their problems. What changed now? First, Skylar, I would never open up to a new guy after a week. Then Taylor, what came into my mind to help this kid? Why I felt sorry for him? And why it feels so good doing this?</p>
<p>And the answer to all those questions was always one; Maya.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>After the phone call with Austin, I started to get ready for the party. No matter how boring, I was happy to finally see all those faces again. I didn’t see my colleagues for weeks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Shaun found a house and moved out a couple of days earlier. Things with Angel were going well for him, so he decided to find a place for himself, but I knew that he wanted to give me and Austin some space, he knew we will need it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I checked myself in the mirror one last time, changed my shoes and walked to my taxi.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I walked into the office, full of familiar faces in full party mode.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya! Long time no see, girl ‘ I heard Sara coming towards me with the drink in her hand.’ Look at you, stunning as always’ She gives me a hug</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Hi Sara, long time indeed’ I smiled and hugged her back – she was the most two-faced and hateful person in the office. Her being nice meant serious business, I knew that I have to avoid her tonight at all cost. But I saw Greg coming to rescue me from the viper.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Sorry, but I need to steal Maya for a few minutes’ He said, grabbed my hand and led towards his office ‘ I need to talk to you before everyone gets drunk here.’                    </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We walked to  his office, he pointed me to sit down. He poured some of my favourite wine and passed me the glass.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I’m happy you came today, I know it is not easy for you because of Gemma’ he said, taking a seat on the other side of his desk.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I’m okay with Gemma, we just don’t speak that’s all. She will come around eventually. I was actually thinking about coming back to the office in a few weeks’ I said, looking around. Something was different, I saw a familiar touch to it. <em>Who else if not Gemma would put two diffusers right next to each other.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I brought you here because I have an offer for you. You know that our company is growing, we are opening new departments soon. We hired new people in the financial sector, but the team is growing. I need someone on my level, who will take over the Finance part of the business. You are my best accountant, you know our finances inside and out. I can’t see anyone else in that role. We are opening a position for you as Finance Director if you accept of course ‘ He said taking a sip of wine – he knew I wanted this more than anything. That was the most significant step in my career, ever. I worked my ass to get where I was then. He knew I won’t refuse it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Oh my god, Greg … I don’t know what to say, thank you’  I smiled with excitement.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ I will take it as, yes.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘And who is going to take over my job? Is a lot work for a junior position’ I asked, but I kind of knew the answer already.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Gemma, she just finished a few main trainings, and she is capable of doing most of the main work. Plus she will have a junior assistant. I need you to focus on a bigger picture. If not you and your hard work we won’t be celebrating five years right now. You are the only person I can trust with this.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Greg, this is really an honour I am speechless… and are you and Gemma still together?’ I said looking at the plant on his desk- he hated plants, he always called ‘a woman thing’.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes, she has grown on, I was wrong by judging her, she didn’t use me. It was all me, in my head. She always struck me as someone like that, but she proved me wrong, and I am glad. She deserves the promotion. I have fallen for her silliness and positivity, we will see where this will go. So far, it is going well.’ He said with a gentle smile on his face, he seemed happy, finally. <em> Gemma, smartass. Always gets what she wants. </em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>‘ I am happy for you two.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Now... I know we have a party, but that’s not all. I’ve spoken to Shaun about you, and I made a decision. Your job starts in the next three or four weeks, but I need Gemma to get up to speed before you start. So, in the next few days, I need you to pass all your work to her and take a break—at least three weeks. I need you to relax, focus on your man and yourself and come back to the office refreshed and happy. You need this Maya, and I won’t take a no as an answer.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Well, if you say so, I won’t object’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Cheers to our new F.D’ he smiled and clicked my glass</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>I was so happy, this was the best day of my career. I worked so hard for it.</p>
<p>After Greg’s speech, I went to get myself another drink and some snacks, I approached the minibar and started digging in. But all those healthy snacks just put me off, suddenly I sentenced a familiar smell of cherry blossom and jasmine.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hi Gemma’ I said without turning around just yet, I knew she was standing right behind me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Maya, can we talk?’ I heard her sweet voice, and something in me snapped. Suddenly the feeling of missing her hit me again, I turned around and saw her standing in from of me. <em>My girl, I missed her so much. </em></p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>‘Yes’ I said and nodded her towards the empty offices, she grabbed herself a drink and walked with me. I closed the door and sat on the desk, crossing my legs.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I wanted to talk to you because I want to apologise. It was wrong for me to say all those things. I was wrong in doubting you, not the first time, but as always you showed me how wrong I was. I feel horrible, you needed me all this time, and I just walked off. Like a coward, I miss you, girl.’ She said, looking at the floor. Her eyes filled with tears.’ I know that it was you voting for me in the recognition, I know that you told Greg to give me a chance. Even after everything I said. I wouldn’t be here building my career without your help. I feel like I was so ungrateful all this time, for everything you did for me… I don’t deserve a friend like you’ She cried.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I jumped off the desk and hugged her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Stop it you silly thing… You know I am not mad, I thought you needed time, that’s why I didn’t call you. Don’t ever say that you don’t deserve to be my friend. You are my friend, my sister, and no matter what, no matter how big the fight I will always look after you. I love you, boo.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I will understand if we can’t come back to how was before, but if you could ever forgive me for all I’ve said…’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Gemma’ I cupped her face and looked in her eyes ‘ There is nothing to forgive, you had the right to be afraid, I could’ve very easily fallen into the same trap as with Luke. It was hard for you as well being there with me and supporting me. The whole situation with Austin was a big unknown, for me as well. I should’ve thought about your feelings as well, and I am sorry for that, I was blinded, and I didn’t know how this could look like from your perspective. I acted selfishly, not just with you but with everyone else. And I am truly sorry for that’  I wiped her smudged make-up with my sleave.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I love you, girl. I missed you so much.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ Do you want to come to my place now? We can talk, without worrying about looking like a mess? Plus this party is fucking boring me to death. I need some good drink, and some normal snacks not this falafel shit.’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yeah, let’s have some proper party’ She giggled</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Five minutes later we sneaked to the taxi and went back to my house. I was so happy to have my girl back. I knew that she needed time, we had issues like this before, and only time could fix it. I knew in a few days everything will come back to normality, the only thing we both needed was a drinking bonding time.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We changed to PJ’s sat on the sofa with a bottle of scotch, crisps, and party music and started to talk about everything that happened in the last six weeks. She asked about Austin, and  I told her everything.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ So he will be out soon?’ She asked</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Yes, hopefully, next week. I can’t wait to see him again, you have no idea. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but I want to be here for him, he deserves it.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘I am so happy, it worked for you, somewhere deep inside I knew this must have a happy ending but I was to too scared to admit it. Somehow I only saw everything that happened with Luke, and that terrified me. But again, you showed me how wrong I can be.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Everything worked out well in the end.’ I smiled</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘ So is he as hot as on the photos?’ She asked with this mischievous look</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Girl! Hot is an understatement, well I didn’t see everything, but if someone can make the orange pants look so sexy, must be the god himself under them. And woman! Those eyes! I never saw in my life, such as deep blue eyes. So mysterious, intriguing and dangerous, but with that softness and kindness deep inside. So fucking sexy.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Wow, I can sense fanny flutters here. I need details… you know that. You have a week, and then I need a full report on my desk’ She laughed, taking a sip of the whiskey from the bottle.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Hang on a minute, I just realized … I am your boss now.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘Shut up! Not yet! In four weeks, so I still have the rights to make demands, before you get your fancy office… This calls for a toast, for our sexy boys and our promotions ’ She raised the bottle and passed it to me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘For our hot males! And the new offices! And getting back together! ’ I laughed</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>We’ve been giggling, crying, drinking and dancing all night, just like before. I was so happy to have my girl back. Maybe this whole fight was needed for both of us to understand how much we need each other? We weren’t just friend, after all, we were sisters.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>We woke up on the floor with a massive hangover, but happy.</p>
<p>We spent a whole day together, recovering from the night before.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Welcome home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Maya and Austin are finally together ;)</p><p> </p><p>Mature content !!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Mature content !!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>It was already dark when I Ieft the gym with Gemma. I didn’t take my car that day, it was a lovely summer evening, so I decided to walk.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Do you want me to give you a ride love?’ Gemma asked putting her bag in the car</p><p> </p><p>‘No, thanks I will take a walk, it is nice and warm. Plus fresh air will help me sleep’ I said hanging my bag on my shoulder</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘As you wish, see you later, gorgeous.’ She smiled and hugged me</p><p> </p><p>‘Call me if you need any help with the projects, I am not sure if I give you all the info’ I said, taking my phone out from my bag. It was my last day before the big break, I needed it to prepare for the next step in my career.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t worry about it, you enjoy your time off. Let me know when this sexy guy comes out, we need to meet. I need to judge by myself.’ She laughed ‘ Goodnight babes ‘ She closed the car door and waved before driving off.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I started to walk through the park; it was a longer route but safer, less dark street and dodgy neighbourhoods.</p><p>Fifteen minutes into my journey, my phone rang.</p><p> </p><p>‘Here you are – I called you’- I heard Shaun on the other side, I did have missed call from him, but completely forgot to call him back.</p><p> </p><p>‘I was at the gym, a bit longer than I planned, they got new equipment, I had to try it out ‘ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘But you are driving home now, right?’</p><p> </p><p>‘No, I came walking. Gemma went home, I need some fresh air, I didn’t sleep much in the last couple of nights.’</p><p> </p><p>‘She could’ve given you a ride.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Come on, Shaun, stop being so salty with her. Me and Gemma are OK now, and I don’t want you to be rude to her. I know you don’t like her, but at least you could tolerate her, she is my friends’<em> Can he just let it go?</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Ok, let’s not talk about Gemma, I called you because of the dad’s birthday dinner this weekend. Do you think that bringing Angel will be a good idea? We’ve been dating for a while now, we made it official a few days ago, and I would like her to meet parents. Plus Mum was pushing me.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘It’s a great idea, but it depends on how she is feeling about this.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘I didn’t ask her yet. I wanted to know what you think first.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I say go for it, ask her. You made it official, plus you met her mother already, so I don’t see any issues ’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘And what about Austin, are you going to take him with you?’ I didn’t expect that question at all.</p><p> </p><p>‘He is not out yet, Shaun. I didn’t hear from him today, he normally calls me around lunchtime even if it's just to say ‘’hello’’. As per yesterday he still didn’t have his court day scheduled so, I have no idea what is going on. I’m a bit worried about the fact that they are delaying it so long.’ I wasn’t just worried, I was terrified that they found something on him and will keep him in prison for longer.</p><p> </p><p>‘It will be fine, probably some paperwork or something. You know yourself how slow all these things work…‘</p><p> </p><p>‘Hang on Shaun’ I cut him off ‘ There is a police car in front of my house ‘ I said, looking at the police car parked on the other side of the street, I stopped and looked around.</p><p> </p><p>‘Police?! Maybe for next door, you know their son is just trouble, perhaps he broke another window or something. ‘</p><p> </p><p>‘Shaun, I will text you later. Everything is alright’ I said and hang up when I saw why they were really there.</p><p> </p><p>I stood frozen on my driveway, my heart pounding in my chest.</p><p>It was him, standing against my car, with his hands in the pockets of his blue jeans, legs crossed, tight black t-shirt highlighting his muscles. He looked so handsome with those bright eyes smiling at me. Next to him on the ground was a backpack and only when I saw it, it hit me, he was really there. I wasn’t dreaming, this was real.</p><p> </p><p>My gym bag slid from my shoulder and landed on the grass. I run towards him, jumped wrapping my arms around his neck. I felt his strong arms around my waist and his warm breath on my neck. This time I wasn’t able to stop my tears from falling.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is that a dream?’ I whispered, running my fingers through his hair</p><p> </p><p>‘No, finally is not s dream baby’ He said, tightening his arms around me like he was trying to prove me that he was really there.</p><p> </p><p>We stood there in each other’s arms for a minute, just processing what was happening. Suddenly I heard a car’s door closing and footsteps.</p><p> </p><p>‘Good evening.’ I heard behind me.</p><p> </p><p>Austin and I pulled away, I turned around and saw a tall police officer, holding some papers.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Good evening’ I said, wiping my tears. Austin was right behind me, close enough that I could feel his breath on me, his fingers gently brushing the inside of my hand. I didn’t know what this officer wanted, but I wanted him to just disappear at this moment. The only thing I wanted was to take my man home.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I need you to sign a few documents for me, and I will be on my way’ He said giving me the papers. I laid them on my car and started reading. ‘This is just a confirmation for us that we delivered Mr Russo in one piece to you. And your authorization for check-ins ’ <em>What the fuck! ?He is not an object to be delivered! </em> I shoot an angry glance at him, making sure he gets a message. ‘I will also need to see your ID for the confirmation‘ I signed the documents, and passed them back to the officer.</p><p> </p><p>‘I have the ID inside, will be back in the second’ I said picking my gym bag from the ground, I run home and pick my ID from the purse, my hands were shaking. I was nervous but excited at the same time. I came back outside and passed the ID to the officer, I could feel Austin’s eyes on me, I turned my head to look at him, and I felt instant electricity going through my body when he smiled, I smiled back, but deep inside I just wanted to kiss him, right there, right at that moment.</p><p> </p><p>‘All good...I am on my way, give you two some space. With all that energy in the air, I want to go back home to my wife’ He winked and give me back my ID ‘ Be good Russo, make sure you show up in few weeks as scheduled. Goodnight Miss Clark’ he smiled and walked off back to the car.</p><p> </p><p>I grabbed Damien’s hand and pulled him inside, he picked up his backpack from the ground and followed me. I turned the lights on closed the door and turned to him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Welcome home’ I smiled at him. He stood in front of me, looking at me with those beautiful ocean eyes, put his hand on my neck and run his thumb through my lips, parting them gently</p><p> </p><p>‘I love you so fucking much’ He said softly, pulling me towards him our lips were so close, nearly touching, we could feel our breaths, his hand still on the back of my neck holding me close to him, his other hand holding my lower back.</p><p> </p><p>I run my hand through his chest, feeling his strong muscles tightening against my touch. The heat went running through my body, the tension was growing with every second, the hunger was so intense, we craved each other so badly. I brought my mouth closer and gently brushed his lower lip with mine.</p><p> </p><p>I could see a now-familiar smirk on his face, he pulled me hard towards him and kissed. The kiss was hungry, urgent, but passionate—our tongues danced in perfect rhythm, exploring each other. My whole body tingled from the feel of his arm around me, pulling me closer until there was no space between us, our bodies pressed to each other, before I even realised my fingers had already sipped under his shirt, his muscles were stiff,  his skin was radiating heat under my fingers while nails tracing the back of his neck and hair.</p><p>I could feel his hand moving from my cheek down my neck, chest and my breasts. He slid his hand under my crop top, grabbing my bare breast.</p><p>We’ve been alone, nothing could stop us, we had each other. The feeling of having him finally with me, for good, his hands on me, that hunger and passion between us, it was the best in the world.</p><p> </p><p>We stood in the middle of the hall, kissing like there was no tomorrow. I slowly pulled away to look in his eyes, he looked at me hungrily. I turned towards the stairs still looking at him, halfway through the stairs I pulled off my top and dropped in front of him, with the smile, I covered my breasts with one arm and run on the top the stairs.</p><p> </p><p>‘Do you want me to send you an invitation?’ I smiled looking at him still standing on the bottom of the stairs looking at me with his cocky grin, he pulled his shirt off, throwing it behind him and run towards me.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Came closer standing one step lower grabbed my ass with his strong hands his face was right in front of my naked breasts, he didn’t hesitate to bring his lips to them, kissed all over, his other hand squeezing my ass my legs began to get weak, him, he could feel it, he saw me slowly losing my balance and picked me up. I wrapped my legs around him, he carried me pushing against the wall with his muscular body. His hands-on my tights holding me still My breath caught when he kissed my neck.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I moaned, feeling his hot breath on my neck, my hands tracing his biceps. My breath became shallow as he kissed my breasts again, licking and sucking my nipple, driving me wild. I felt his hard excitement between my legs. I moaned again, louder bringing my lips to his ear, tightening my legs around him, pushing him closer, he brought his face up to mine and kissed hard. His hand traced down my stomach to my leggings, sliding under them, my breath coughed when his fingers touched my sex, circling slowly with his fingers, driving me insane.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god… Austin’ I moaned in his mouth, losing grip of my legs around him. He pulled his hand from my panties, gripped my ass</p><p> </p><p>‘Bedroom?’ he breathed with the hungry gaze ‘You drive me crazy - I want you Maya’ he said with his husky voice and kissed me, biting my lower lip.</p><p> </p><p>‘Second door ’ I breathed, our lips still touching.</p><p> </p><p>He carried me to the bedroom and laid me on the bed, I run his fingers through his chest popping myself on my elbow, my hand slowly traced a path down to his trousers I smiled looking at him, gently teasing his length the tip of my fingers through the fabric. He moaned, closing his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>‘These will look better on the floor’ I smiled undoing his belt with one hand looking into his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah? He asked with the cocky grin pointing at my leggings, he got up and took off the rest of his clothes his eyes not leaving mine —my breath caught when I saw him fully naked. His body was perfect. <em>How someone looks so damn perfect!?. </em>My eyes tracing down his body lower and lower admiring the view. Thinking that clearly, it can’t be any better than this, my eyes stopped at his length <em>Sweet baby Jesus!.</em></p><p>I felt my cheeks burning, and my body filling with desire. Before I managed to gather my thoughts, he pulled my leggings and tossed aside, grabbed my tights and pulled me closer, spreading my legs. He leaned closer, looking at my body his hand tracing from my tights up to my stomach, breasts, neck stopping at my cheek.</p><p> </p><p>‘This must be a dream, you are so damn beautiful. I can’t believe I’m here, I am the luckiest man in the world.’</p><p> </p><p>I pushed him on his back and moved on top of him.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I will prove you it’s not a dream’ I leaned close to his face and kissed him, his hands traced down my back. I kissed his chest going down to his abs, and lower to his carved V, his breaths got shallower as I was going lower and lower. He buried his hand in my hair.</p><p>I leaned over his massive length, licking from the bottom to the top. I grabbed it with my hand and took him into my mouth, looking him deep in the eyes.</p><p> </p><p>‘Fuck, baby…’ He moaned squeezing my hair harder when he felt my mouth covering his excitement.  I looked into his eyes while moving my mouth and my hand up and down on him slowly, deeper with every move, his moans were turning me on, even more, my other hand tracing his abs gently scratching his skin driving him crazy. He looked so hot but so vulnerable,  lost in my touch. At this moment, the rough side of Austin that always fought to show was hidden away, letting that softness come out.</p><p> </p><p>He grabbed my arm and pulled towards him, wrapped his arms around me lifting me on him, I could feel him touching my entrance, slowly sliding inside me, I breathed into his mouth letting a small moan. ‘Fuck, you feel so good’ I whispered when he filled me, pushing my tights towards him. He lied to me on my back still inside me, with my legs wrapped around his waist.</p><p> </p><p>He kissed me hard thrusting in me, starting slow and getting faster and harder with every thrust, pushing my legs towards me getting deeper. My nails grazing his back, our bodies moving as one lost in pleasure, moans and sweat. The moment we both waited for so long, all those dreams that I had every night imagined him inside me, kissing, touching became a reality. A reality that my mind wasn’t able to process.</p><p> </p><p>His hand trailed down to my sex, reaching the spot circling with the rhythm of our moves Austin pulled from the kiss, to catch a breath, he was close and so was I ‘I dreamt about this every night…You feel so fucking, good baby.’  He’s moves got faster and deeper bringing me close to my climax, I could feel my extasy building, I tilted my head back and came with the scream bringing over the edge seconds later. ‘Oh fuck’ he whispered, filling me with his orgasm. All the love and passion we craved for months just exploded.</p><p>He collapsed on top of me and buried his face in my hair, both trying to catch a breath.</p><p>I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his shoulder. He rolled over and pulled me with him, wrapping his arm around me, my head resting on his chest, he pulled my head with his other hand gently towards his and looked at me.</p><p> </p><p>‘I love you, Maya, I love you so fucking much… you have no idea how much you mean to me…’ He said gently rubbing my shoulder with his fingers.</p><p> </p><p>I cupped his face rubbing his cheek ‘ I love you too, Austin’ I said, I could feel tears running down my face.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hey, baby… what’s going on? Why you are crying?’ He asked wiping my tears with his thumb</p><p> </p><p>‘ I don’t know… it’s just …I am so happy’ I smiled resting my chin on his chest ‘ This whole thing… having you here finally with me just feels surreal. I’ve been worried that they will leave you in prison for longer, because of something you did in your past. You didn’t call today, and then I saw you … I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so confused all this time, ever since we started talking, confused by my own feelings… all those ‘’what-ifs ’’ until now. Everything that I built in just exploded and now … I’m just happy … because I love you’ I smiled and kissed his chest.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I’m sorry baby, I’m sorry I didn’t call. My lawyer came last night telling me I have court the next morning. I tried to get to the phone but the only warden on guard that night was Jason… this fucker hates me and would do everything to make my life more complicated. I was fuming, I wanted you to be there, I knew how much you wanted it.’</p><p> </p><p>‘But you here now, with me. Free … right? What the judge said? Are there any conditions?’ I asked drawing circles on his chest.</p><p> </p><p>‘Not many, I have to sign in every few weeks, for the next five months, don’t get in trouble or they will lock me up again… that’s it’ He smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘ You see... I told you that everything will be OK. Now you just need to be a good boy and behave.’ I said.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I don’t know if I can behave if you are laying here looking like that.’ He said, bringing his face to mine, I leaned closer and kissed him.</p><p> </p><p>We laid in each other's arms for a  few minutes, my eyes and fingers were exploring his tattoos  and abs. Suddenly I saw a scar, fresh one, I touched gently.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is that ..?’ I asked</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah…is healing well’ He said</p><p> </p><p>I leaned closer and kissed it ‘ We don’t want any more of these’ I said</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly I heard my phone buzzing from the floor – ‘I didn’t remember bringing it, must’ve fallen from my back pocket…Fuck! This must be Shaun…I left him hanging when I saw the police car … I promised I will text him, that was like two hours ago’ I said looking for my phone. I picked it up and laid back next to Damien, kissing his cheek and typed a message to Shaun.</p><p> </p><p>‘’I’m fine, don’t worry. Austin is here, FINALLY! ’’</p><p> </p><p>I tossed my phone on the side and turned to Austin.</p><p> </p><p>‘As much as love laying here with you, I need to eat something, I am starving, and I am sure you would do with some good warm food yourself.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Sound heavenly baby’ He smiled and kissed me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Come, I need to show you around the house.’ I got up and grabbed my silky bathrobe and wrapped around myself ‘ I will be in the kitchen … follow the smell ‘ smiled and walked off, leaving him to his thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>I walked downstairs to the kitchen, turned on the oven with the lasagne that I’ve made before I went to the gym with Gemma. I leaned over the counter, trying to process what just happened, heard Austin moving upstairs. This was real, I didn’t dream it like every night. He was really here with me. I smiled to myself, the sexual chemistry that I thought could be lacking was stronger than I thought, he made me feel all sorts of things, I craved him every second.</p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later a saw him walking down the stairs shirtless with only his trousers on, he ran his hand through his hair, his muscles shining in the light is V lines perfectly visible <em>Fuck, he is so bloody hot! </em> He picked up his shirt from the floor and hanged on the chair.</p><p>
  
</p><p>He saw me staring at him and smiled approaching me, leaned over the worktop and kissed me ‘I missed you’ he whispered, kissing the tip of my nose ‘ I looked around upstairs, I hope you don’t mind?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Of course not, you live here now… ‘</p><p> </p><p>‘I saw in one of the rooms a lot of paintings, you never told me you paint’ He walking to me and standing in front of me rubbing my shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>‘ It’s a hobby of mine, helped me in difficult times. I didn’t paint for a while, I’ve been through some hard time not that long ago, painting helped me disconnect, stop thinking about what happened.’ I said, looking down at my hands. I didn’t tell him about Luke.</p><p> </p><p>‘And what happened?’ He said, pushing my chin up ‘ Tell me, please’ he looked into my eyes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I took a deep breath ‘ My ex died six months ago in the car accident we were both involved in. He was a troubled man… abusive, a drug addict, beyond help. But I tried many times to help him anyway until I decided that was enough and broke up with him, thinking maybe that would work and he will stop using for me. But he got furious … dragged me to the car and drove. He lost control of the vehicle… and we end up going off the bridge into the river… I managed to escape pretty quickly, I tried to get him out, but he drowned … he was too high to even think about saving himself. I felt guilty for months, thinking I could’ve done more to help him…’ I said feeling my eyes filling with tears ‘ It wasn’t just about him, he did a lot of horrible things to me and others, I cared about him … but never loved him.’</p><p> </p><p>Austin wiped my tears, cupped my face. ‘ I don’t want you to blame yourself, it wasn’t your fault, you understand? How come you never told me?’</p><p> </p><p>‘ I didn’t think it was important, you had plenty of your own shit going on. This is past, irrelevant.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Baby, nothing about you is irrelevant, you are my whole world now. I want you to feel safe and happy … and I will do everything. You saved my life, showed me love … and now is my turn to show you how grateful I am for it… making sure you always smile and feel loved and important like the angel you are … you deserve the world, and I will give it to you’  He said rubbing my cheek with his thumb.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I don’t need the world, just you … that’s enough’ I smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘That you already have’ He smiled and kissed me gently, I wrapped my arms around and kissed his shoulder. He was mine, all mine.</p><p> </p><p>The oven pinged ‘ Food is ready’ I jumped and walked to the stove.</p><p> </p><p>His eyes widened when he saw the tray ‘ This smells amazing, and looks even better.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Wait until you taste it… this is my secret recipe’ I said putting the plates on the table</p><p> </p><p>‘Let me help you’ he said, looking around the kitchen, not knowing where to look.</p><p> </p><p>‘You can help by taking some beers from the fridge’ I smiled.</p><p> </p><p>We sat at the table opposite each other.</p><p>I watched Austin discreetly, he was so happy, my heart melted with the thought that I am making his life a lot better now, everything he went through all the horror he saw in prison and before it is all behind.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Fuck baby, this is so good… I don’t remember when last ate something so good… I missed this’ He said, taking another portion.</p><p> </p><p>‘oh, I am happy that you like it. I am not the best chef, I normally cook the same stuff or just order’ I said a little embarrassed.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I told you already… I will be your personal chef. I just need to get back on track, I will make you anything you want.’</p><p> </p><p>‘The kitchen is all yours, love … can I have one more request? ‘ I smiled mischievously</p><p> </p><p>‘OK… I know that look… Shoot’</p><p> </p><p>‘I want you to cook shirtless … how does this sound?’</p><p> </p><p>He laughed ‘ Oh well… whatever you wish’ he shot me a cocky smile.</p><p> </p><p>After dinner, I showed him the rest of the house and went back to bed, we laid in each other's arms, and talked, enjoying every second. I watched him fall asleep, with his arms wrapped around me. I felt so safe and happy like I never felt before. First time in a very long time, I fell asleep with the lights entirely off, not being scared. I knew that from now on, everything will be perfect.  <em>Will it be? </em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Next morning I woke up alone, Austin wasn’t next to me. The feeling of the whole last night being just a dream went through my mind, but suddenly the smell of cooking hit my nose. I sat up and looked around, his stuff was neatly laid on the chair and felt relief. I jumped out the bed a quickly into the shower, wrapped myself in only a thin bathrobe went downstairs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I saw Austin standing in the kitchen, only in his boxers. I stood quietly in the hall for a moment, enjoying the view of his muscular back. I smiled to myself and tiptoe to him, wrapped my arms around him, kissing the back of his neck.</p><p> </p><p>‘Good morning, handsome’ I said, he put down the knife and wiped is hands turning towards me with a smile</p><p> </p><p>‘Good morning angel’ he said and kissed me gently ‘you looked so cute, I didn’t want to wake you up, so I decided to make you some breakfast’ he pointed behind him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Wow, thank you, you are spoiling me from the get-go ’ I smiled ‘ What we having?’  </p><p> </p><p>‘You didn’t have much in the fridge, I can’t do much with dozen packs of Oreos, but I am making an omelette  ’ he laughed opening a cupboard with my war supplies of cookies.</p><p> I laughed looking away, slightly embarrassed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Looks amazing …I know you are probably used to early mornings, but did you sleep well?’ I asked, sitting on the counter and watching him cook. He looked so happy, finally being able to do it.</p><p> </p><p>‘Heavenly baby, last time I slept so well was over seven years ago. But today was a lot better than before because the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was you … nothing can beat this’ he smiled and kissed my forehead, he knew from the look on my face that any second I will call him out for being cheesy ‘ I will get used to your snoozing, in prison, we were all up very early, sometimes there was no sleep at all so it will take a little while to sleep normally. If you want I can sleep on the sofa, that way I won’t wake you up to early.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Stop being silly! The only time you will be sleeping on the sofa will be when you piss me off … Remember to take all the time you need to adjust, I am here for you, to help you. I don’t want you to feel pressured, I can’t even imagine how hard is it for you. And never hesitate to ask if you need anything’ I said <em>Sofa he said, don’t you even dare!</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you, baby ‘he said, with the sweetest smile I ever have seen ‘ OK, it’s ready... an empty fridge style omelette… without cookies’ he laughed</p><p> </p><p>We sat at the table enjoying our first morning together, I could definitely use this.</p><p> </p><p>‘So what are your plans for today as a free man?’ I asked sipping my coffee</p><p> </p><p>‘There are few things that I need to do, the first thing I need to get back the access to my bank account, my Pop kept the money there for dark times, that’s the only account that Bennie didn’t know about. After that, I need some clothes, I don’t have much’ he said, pointing at himself</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, do you really think that trying to get hold of illegal money will help your case? We just got you out of jail. I don't want you to go back there any time soon. Money is not an issue I have enough for both of us for now’ I said a bit worried</p><p> </p><p>‘Baby, this money is legal. Everything that my pop and I earned from the legal part of the shop is there, everything else was probably already taken by Bennie. I wouldn’t risk it even if I knew there is more… I’m done with that. Plus I don’t want you to pay for me, it should be the other way round, I have no idea how much is in there, but I’m sure is enough for a start’ He said holding my hand ‘ `Trust me.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I do, I trust you. If you say this money is legal, I believe you.’ </p><p> </p><p>He lifted my hand and kissed my fingers ‘ How did I get so lucky, you are a real angel’ he smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘I am sure my parents would gladly take a credit for that’ I smiled ‘ If you want to go to town today, we better get ready, it’s already midday.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Of course, but first… ’He said getting up, wrapped his arms around my hips and lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder, I screamed making sure to don’t fall, but he held me firm</p><p> ‘The bed is cold, we need to warm it up’ he said carrying me upstairs, he kicked open the bedroom door and put me down, and kissed passionately, his hands traced down my bathrobe sliding it down my shoulders exposing my body. I wrapped my arms around his neck, his hands all over my naked body made my breath shallower with every move, his touch felt so good. My hand was travelling from his chest down his abs and finally reached his boxers sliding inside, I grabbed his already hard length, moving it up and down with the other hand pulling his boxers down.</p><p> </p><p>He grabbed me and laid on the be wrapping my legs around him, kissing me all over heading lower and lower, he stopped at my sex and looked at me, my body already burning, I could feel his breath on my most sensitive part he leaned down burring his mouth in my wetness, moaning while his tongue was moving over <em>that </em>spot. I tilted my head, my hand buried in his hair, the other one grabbing the sheets, my body dancing with the movements of his tongue moans and screams. This was the best feeling in the world, not because of the act itself but because it was him. It was different than other times with others, even Albert being a sex god, with skills like nobody else couldn’t compare to this. Still, all that was just a physical pleasure and what I felt with Austin  was way more than that, It was love.</p><p>I could feel his eyes on me devouring me when I danced from pleasure.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh god… Austin!’ I screamed, feeling my climax building, time stopped, everything else stopped existing only his skin on mine, seconds later I came with a scream. ‘Fuck…’ I breathed trying to catch my breath.</p><p> </p><p>‘This was the best second breakfast I ever had’ He smiled kissing me.</p><p>A few minutes later, we were all over each other again. We spent the rest of the day making love, all the plans were forgotten.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Next day, we got ready and went to town. I waited for Austin in the car in front of the bank.</p><p>While waiting, I called Shaun.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Hi, sis!’ He answered ‘ How are you? Did you two left the bedroom already’ He laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, yes… just this morning but only because my fridge is empty.’ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Wow… looks like someone can skip the gym for few days… but apart from wet exercise, how are you? … and you know what I mean’ He said</p><p> </p><p>‘ I am feeling perfect, amazing, even…’ I smiled looking at the door, checking if Austin  is coming back, I missed him already.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘I am happy for you … are we going to meet him tomorrow?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I spoke with him …and yes Shaun, we did have proper conversation … and he said that he will come with me. I know that he is nervous, is my family, after all. He didn’t have one for many years, only his pop and few uncles and aunts. It will be hard for him, so please be gentle and understanding, I spoke with Mum already, and she will keep an eye on Dad. You know how you two act when you are drunk, I don’t want you to make some stupid comment or something to make him feel uncomfortable. Is hard for him already as it is.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, don’t worry. I need to keep my head clean anyway, I will be with Angel, so chill sis’</p><p> </p><p>‘ I appreciate that. He is doing well so far, but we are a very open and caring family. We don’t hide emotions and feelings from each other, and he is still trying to open up.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, he is not a baby… he is a grown-ass man. Treating him like a baby won’t help him adjust back to the outside.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah, you are right, I just don’t want to see him hurt, he went trough enough already’ I saw Austin walking out from the bank ‘Shaun, Austin is coming back I will see you tomorrow Ok?’ I said when Austin sat in the car.</p><p> </p><p>‘OK, see you tomorrow, sis. Don’t forget the cake!!’ He said and hang up</p><p> </p><p>‘Fuck sake! The cake!’ I suddenly remembered</p><p> </p><p>‘You ok baby?’ Austin asked, looking at me, putting his hand on my leg.</p><p> </p><p>‘I forgot to buy a birthday cake for my dad, I need to get it today … I hope they will make it for tomorrow morning. Shit!’ I started to panic</p><p> </p><p>‘We will get it, don’t worry’ He said, giving my leg a gentle squeeze.’ We will go straight away, is still early.’ I calmed down right away. <em>How is he doing this?! </em>Nobody could ever calm me down when I was losing my shit, and he did it with just a gentle squeeze.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘ And how it went in the bank? Did you managed to sort everything out?’ I asked</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Yes’ He smiled wildly ‘ Well, the bank took a lot of it during the seven years but still there is enough here for a good start… ‘ he said, passing me a receipt. My eyes widened, and my mouth dropped, seeing the amount.</p><p> </p><p>‘Enough?! Austin, this is a lot of money! I don’t earn that much in a year! This is a small fortune‘ he could see the concern building on my face.</p><p> </p><p> ‘Baby, I have all the papers here, proving this is all legal money… Plus not all of it is for me, I have a plan for part of it’.  His expression was soft and caring.</p><p> </p><p>‘A plan?’ I asked a little confused</p><p> </p><p>‘Remember Taylor? The kid from the prison that I  told you about last night?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I remember … he is in trouble for stealing money.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I decided to help him. He needs money for his father’s treatment, and I am going to pay for it. They don’t need a lot, but they don’t have enough to cover the full set of meds ’</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god, Austin… this is so amazing of you … I am speechless …’ I said squeezing his hand</p><p> </p><p>‘This is all your doing, you showed me that there are good people around, and that is worth helping them when they are in need. This kid got lost in life, he wanted to do good but didn’t know how to. I feel the responsibility to help him. Otherwise, he will get himself in more shit when he comes out. I’ve done some bad shit in my life, I am not proud of it. It’s time to redeem myself to be a better version of myself.’</p><p> </p><p>‘You have such good heart honey, and I love you for it, you know?’ My heart melted.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘I am just copying form you’ He smiled again with this sweet smile.‘ Let’s move on, get that cake for you dad … before this guy gives us a parking ticket’ He laughed and pointing at the cop.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shit!’ I started the car and drove away.</p><p> </p><p>We spent the whole day in town, shopping walking around. Austin looked like the happiest man on earth, but deep inside, I knew that was hard for him to see again all the things he didn’t see for so long. But I was there for him, ready to guide him and help, because he was the most precious human being I ever met, and I loved him to death, no matter what life would bring us I was ready to stand by his side.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. First date</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Austin meets Maya's family and finally takes her on their first date.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a middle of the night, I got woken up by noises outside. Every Friday night my neighbour use to have parties until early mornings. Usually, that wouldn’t bother me, but that night something else brought me out from my sleep. Like for the last few nights Austin’s arm was around me, he held my hand every night, he wouldn’t fall asleep if I wasn’t next to him and as soon as I moved he would wake up and check if I’m around only then he could go back to sleep. But that night was different, what really woke me up was his hand squashing mine very hard I could feel my fingers getting numb, his hands were shaking, heart pounding in his chest right next to my ear, his breath was fast and deep, his chest and face were wet from sweat.</p><p>I carefully released my hand from his, to don’t wake him up suddenly. Moved myself closer to him and gently placed my hand on his cheek, but before my hand reached his face, he jumped up with the scream, he was terrified.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Maya?!’ he said with a terrified voice, desperately waving his arms looking for me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shhh… I’m here’ I sat up next to him rubbing his shoulder. He quickly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. I squeezed him tight, making sure he knows I’m there with him. His heart still beating fast ‘It was just a nightmare… It’s OK’  I said, rubbing his back, trying to calm him down. His muscles were so tense, and his embrace was strong, a little bit too strong. I placed a small kiss on his neck, pulling his head closer to me, he buried it in my hair, trying to calm his breath. I knew that asking him what happened is the worse that I could do. We sat in silence on the bed for a good few minutes.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am sorry baby’ he whispered with his face still buried in my hair, his voice was breaking.</p><p> </p><p>‘It’s OK… just relax’ I said gently scratching the back of his neck ‘just try to relax.’</p><p> </p><p>I looked at the clock it was three in the morning, I could hear loud music from the house next door. I had so many thought in my head,  I knew it is going to be hard for him, after everything he went through, all the horror he saw in prison. Being alone for seven years, with nobody to properly talk to, nobody who could show him at least a bit of warmth and love. Just left by himself after losing his father, everyday thinking about death.</p><p>I remembered our afternoon in town and recalled all the moments, how uncomfortable he felt in the shopping mall, holding my hand all the time, scanning everything and everyone, avoiding any eye contact with everyone who wasn't me.</p><p>Only after going through all these moments, I understood how stressful that must’ve been for him, how much he was trying to hide it, for me to feel good. I started to feel horrible, how did I let that happened? I should’ve known. We should’ve taken it slow, one place at the time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later, he slowly let go from the strong embrace, I cupped his face rubbing his cheeks with my thumbs  ‘ Austin, I am here for you. No matter how hard it will be, you have me. You can talk to me, I won’t judge you … I can only imagine how hard it is for you … but we will get through this, I promise ‘  I said, his expression softened.</p><p> </p><p>‘You are a real angel, baby. I would die if I’ve ever lost you’ he said softly resting his forehead on mine ‘Yesterday was a bit stressful, I didn’t realise until we walked into the mall. It was so crowded … I … I felt like everyone was looking at me like everyone knew my past like everyone knew I just came out of prison… like there were all judging me. I know it’s not true, but still...’ he said, looking away.</p><p> </p><p>‘Honey, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have taken you there so soon. It was very selfish of me … I should’ve asked you first.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, stop blaming yourself again. Is not your fault… I shouldn’t be such a coward.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, you are not a coward. You just came out of prison, and you are trying to adapt back to everyday life. It takes courage to take that step, you’ve been through hell and yet here you are. With me, being the most precious and loving man I ever knew. You just need a little help to get back on track… and for that you have me… we will take it slow.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you’ he whispered</p><p> </p><p>‘If you want you can stay here today, I will go to dad’s party by myself. I won’t be long. They will understand.’</p><p> </p><p>‘No!... I mean… no, it’s fine I will go, as long as you are there I will be fine’ he said, grabbing my hand.</p><p> </p><p>I nodded with a smile. At this moment it was clear to me, he didn’t want to be alone. Anywhere but not alone.</p><p> </p><p>We laid back, Austin put his head on my chest, holding my hand.</p><p> </p><p>‘Try to relax’ I said, interlocking his fingers with mine, stroking his head to help him relax.</p><p>He fell asleep very quickly, I stayed awake just in case if he needed me again.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We were getting ready to go to my dad’s birthday party. I decided to ask Shaun to come over to pick up the cake and take it with him, but this was just an excuse. I wanted Austin to meet him first before everyone else, so it would be easier for him later on.</p><p> </p><p>‘Could you help me with the zip’ I asked ‘ I love this dress but is a complete pain to zip up.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I course’ Austin smiled, turning to me, he moved my hair to one side and zipped my dress ‘You look so beautiful in purple.’ He smiled, looking at me in the mirror.</p><p> </p><p>‘And you look smoking hot’ I smiled, turning myself to face him, I took a step back and looked at him ‘Damn boy!’ I said, fanning myself with my hand. He looked amazing in a tight patterned black shirt, neatly tucked in his dark blue jeans, two buttons were undone, showing just the right amount of skin to make me feel warm inside. His black hair as usual neatly brushed, only he could pull a look like that.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is it ok? I don’t want to look like I am trying too much’ He asked, putting the belt on.</p><p> </p><p>‘It’s perfect’ I smiled, but inside I just wanted to rip all those clothes off, suddenly the doorbell rang. I took Austin’s hand ‘Are you ok?’ I asked</p><p>‘Yes,’ he smiled and kissed the tip of my nose.</p><p> </p><p>I ran downstairs and opened the door.</p><p> </p><p>‘Sista!’ Shaun smiled from ear to ear, Angel was standing next to him. She looked even more beautiful than the first time we met.</p><p> </p><p>‘Get it you...’ I said hugging him ‘ Hi Angel, how are you doing girl’ I smiled and hugged her.  </p><p> </p><p>‘Do you have coffee?’ Shaun asked, entering the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, there is some left in the machine, help yourself’ I said gesturing Angel to go ahead ‘ Mi casa es su casa’ I smiled</p><p> </p><p>She looked around the living room ‘You have a beautiful house, very homey’ she smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you, I try’ I saw Austin coming down the stairs, I could see that he felt uncomfortable, but I let him do it the way he wanted it. I smiled at him reassuringly.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Hi, I am Angel… lovely to meet you. Austin right?’ I felt relieved when she approached him first and pulled her hand to greet him. She was so sweet.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hi, Angel … Nice to meet you too’ Austin smiled and shook her hand, <em>Phew, one down. </em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Austin!’ Shaun shouted from the kitchen, put the mug with the coffee down and approached us ‘ So good to finally see you in the flesh… I’m Shaun, her better version’ he laughed, pointed at me, and embraced Austin patting him in the back.</p><p> </p><p>‘You wish’ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Nice to meet you Shaun’ he smiled, returning the embrace, he looked more relaxed already. I knew that Shaun would make met a lot easier for him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Now... Maya, bad news’ Shaun said, grabbing his mug.</p><p> </p><p>‘What happened?’ I asked a bit worried</p><p> </p><p>‘Unexpected guest arrived this morning for dad’s birthday ‘ he said, sitting down on the sofa next to Austin. ‘ Uncle Rob’</p><p> </p><p>‘Are you kidding me?! What does he want?... this guy has balls to show up like this’  I was furious, uncle Rob was my dad’s younger brother who’s the best qualities were insulting everyone any chance he had.</p><p> </p><p>‘Apparently, he couldn’t miss his brother’s birthday, well, but most likely he needs money again. Mum said that his lover kicked him out, and he has nowhere to go.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I am guessing she kicked him out for cheating?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, obviously … what I am trying to say is...’Shaun turned to Austin ‘ he can be a bit of a dick sometimes, he loves insulting people and… Maya is his favourite target, but as you probably already know she is a tough cookie, so they usually argue.’</p><p> </p><p>‘ I just hate sexists, and he is a dick! If you trying to tell me to keep my cool, you can forget it… ‘</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, dad will be there to handle it, I am just trying to warn Angel and Austin… just ignore him.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t worry about me, it takes a lot for me to lose my shit, prison is the best place to test your patience and teach you to deal with dickheads. He can say what he wants about me, but if what Maya is saying is true, he better watches his tongue. I hate when someone talks shit about women, mostly the ones close to me.’  Austin said, looking at me with this soft loving glance.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Bro, I can tell you already that dad will like you … it’s like hearing him. Exactly the same words, ’ Shaun smiled, I could see a relieve in Austin’s eyes. He was anxious about meeting my dad, mostly because of his profession.</p><p> </p><p>‘Listen, I don't want to kick you out but time is running, mum is probably waiting for this cake’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘You are right, she is all stressed out already. Meeting both Austin and Angel the same day. You know her she wants everything to be perfect…we better get going sweetie’ Shaun smiled at Angel extending his arm to help her get up. ‘See you there soon.’</p><p> </p><p>Once the door closed after them, I turned to Austin and smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am fine baby’ he smiled before I managed to even open my mouth.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>During the drive I told him about my family, all the small details that I missed before, he asked me a lot of question, I knew he wanted to impress them. He insisted on stopping by the florist and buy my mum flowers, he also insisted on me to wait in the car.</p><p> </p><p>We arrived at my parent's when I turned off the engine I saw Austin getting anxious, rubbing his hands on his trousers taking deep breaths. I’ve put my hand on his and squeezed gently.</p><p> </p><p>‘Just say it, and we will go back, whenever you feel is enough, just tell me.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>He took a deep breath ‘ Let’s go, I can already smell the barbeque’ He smiled and opened the before we managed to approach the house my mum jumped out with a massive smile on her face.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god, look at you! ‘ She ran and kissed my cheeks and turned to Austin ‘ Welcome sweetheart, it’s lovely to see you here. I am so happy that everything worked well’ she smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘Is good to meet you, Mrs Clark’ he said, passing her the biggest bouquet of lilies that I think she ever received.</p><p> </p><p>‘ Oh, stop it! Call me Alicia… I hate all these formalities, make me feel old ‘ she laughed and kissed his cheek.’ Come on, come in, you two.’ She wrapped her arm around Austin and squeezed gently, resting her head on his arm for a second. I knew she would welcome him like that, but for some reason seeing it I felt so good. <em>But can he handle so much love at once? Wasn’t that too much?</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>We walked to the garden where my dad and Shaun already discussed their opinions about how to handle the grill.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shaun put oil on these burgers. Do you want your lady to eat charcoal?!’</p><p> </p><p>‘Richard!’ My mum called him, he turned and smiled when he saw us.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Sweet muffin! Look at you so pretty!’ He kissed my head, he looked at Austin who tried to hide his nerves. ‘ And you must be Austin… ‘ he said, turning to him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, it is good to meet you, Sir’ Austin pulled his hand towards my dad, who grabbed it firmly and pulled him towards him and embraced him. My dad wasn’t a lot taller than him but was definitely bigger and stronger ‘ Welcome in the family, son… I am glad you are here in one piece.’  I could hear my dad saying to him. I wasn’t expecting my dad to react like this.</p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t call me Sir again, I’m Rick’ he laughed patting him on the arm ‘ Come with us, lets the ladies have their gossip, and us men deal with what is important… food, looks like my son seems to have a problem with handling the grill’. Austin looked at me when my dad pulled him towards the barbeque, I nodded with the smile, he looked like he didn’t expect such a warm welcome.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I decided to leave them be and join Mum and Angel on the swing for a little bit of chat.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hello, ladies’ I said and sat on the swing opposite them poring myself a bit of sangria.’ And uncle?’ I asked, not seeing him anywhere.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘He decided to go and buy better alcohol, he doesn't like what we have, he prefers cheap beer ‘ Mum said unimpressed, she hated uncle Rob he was always a liability for Dad when his parents died, never helped my dad looking after their little sister. He never appreciated anything my dad did for him only asked for more. ‘ And how is he ?’ Mum asked, pointing at Austin.</p><p> </p><p>‘It’s been only a few days, but he is doing well, slowly we will get there’ I said looking at him having and conversation with my dad.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, what are you not telling me?’ <em>She knows, of course, she knows. </em></p><p>
  
</p><p>‘It’s nothing mum, I’m sure this is normal but … he is having nightmares. Yesterday I took him to the mall, and I thought it was okay, but last night he told me it was too much to handle… I feel so horrible, I should’ve known’ I said, lowering my voice.</p><p> </p><p>Angel sat next to me ‘He will be like this at the beginning, it’s normal. You just need to pick up his pace and be there for him. A lot of ex-prisoners suffer from trauma, but as soon as they get help and support the easier will get. He seems to be doing ok, he is stressed that’s understandable, but he doesn't look like he is troubled … you are worrying too much, he will be fine … actually … he is laughing at Shaun’s jokes …that’s not normal’ she laughed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my, Shaun’s dad jokes’ I rolled my eyes.</p><p> </p><p>‘The point is sweetheart, by worrying so much you crate the problem. Just see what happens, take it day by day as it goes’ Mum smiled at me ‘ I am delighted that you two are finally together, he looks like a good man. Like someone who will look after you and always respect you, and that’s what we all looking for.’</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly I saw my uncle entering the garden with the crate of cheap beer</p><p> </p><p>‘I just hope that Dad will handle him today’ I said quietly to Mum</p><p> </p><p>‘Me too sweetie, me too’ she said</p><p> </p><p>My uncle was tall and skinny, the complete opposite of my dad’s appearance. His hair as always in a messy bun always looking like a cheap rock star, with that stupid smile on his face.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh! Who we have here!? Two new faces! ‘ He shouted, approaching Austin. I got up ready for the confrontation, they greeted each other when I approached,  uncle turned to me ‘Maya, look at you, looking better than last time we saw each other’ he said turning back to Austin not even waiting for my response ‘ be careful with this one mate, she can be difficult, always have something to say when not asked .’ He laughed, but nobody else did.</p><p> </p><p>‘At least I have something constructive to say, not just insults’ I said already boiling inside.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah sure… and where is your bird Shaun is she hiding from me?... shy one huh? I know I have that effect on women’  He spotted Angel talking to mum ‘ Holy shit boy, that’s a fine chick… you did well’ I could see Shaun losing his shit, dropping the spatula and taking a step towards uncle, my dad stopped him with his arm also fuming.</p><p> </p><p>‘Rob! You’ve been here three minutes and managed to insult my daughter and Angel. You are not in the pub. Behave or get the fuck out of here! I will not tolerate this in my house, you are talking about my daughter, so mind your fucking tongue! …’</p><p> </p><p>‘Chill brother I was just messing around’ he, said, grabbing a beer and walking off.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Austin rubbed my shoulder smiling at me ‘ Burgers are ready baby, you said you were hungry’ he said, passing me the plate.</p><p> </p><p>‘Let’s all sit down and eat’ My dad said, taking the rest of the food to the table.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After dinner we all relaxing, my uncle was already drunk. We were all waiting for the bomb to drop.</p><p> </p><p>‘So Austin… do you have any ideas on what you want to do now? Any plans?’ My dad asked,  pouring him another beer.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Well, yeah…  I had plenty of time to think. I have a few ideas, but we will see. First I need to find a job and then start making plans’ He said a little nervous but definitely a lot more confident than before.</p><p> </p><p>‘Any job in particular?’ Mum asked</p><p> </p><p>‘I would like to find something in the kitchen, for a start. I know that nobody will hire me without proper education plus with past like mine will be more challenging, but I would like to be a professional chef.’</p><p> </p><p>‘So no fixing bikes?’ Shaun asked</p><p> </p><p>‘No, this is my old life. The past, my dream always was to be a chef in my own restaurant or own my own food truck. My pop use to push me to go to gastronomy school, but back then priorities were different, business was more important than my education.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I have a perfect place for you to start’ my mum smiled ‘ my friend owns a restaurant in town and is currently looking for a station chef, his current employee is opening his own business and is leaving in a couple of weeks. The place is a few minutes from you, also as far as I remember he is offering training and some kind of scholarship in his school. Is this something you would be interested in ?’ she asked</p><p> </p><p>‘I don’t know what to say… well yes that’s exactly what I am looking for … I think… I didn’t have a chance to do any research about what do I really need. I was more prepared to wash the dishes from the start, to be honest.’</p><p> </p><p>‘ I will give Leon a call tomorrow morning and give him your phone number, you can always go for a test day and see how you feel with it. Leon is a lovely man, very patient and collective, and I know that he will like you.’ My mum smiled  </p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you, Mrs Clark’ Austin smiled and looked at me, his eyes were sparkling with happiness.</p><p> </p><p>‘Alicia!’ She shot him an angry glance and smiled right after</p><p> </p><p>‘Alicia, thank you, Alicia… I am really grateful’ he said a little embarrassed but happy.</p><p> </p><p>Uncle Rob let a loud burp and pointed his finger at mum ‘Are you seriously sending him to this henpecked idiot? He lets a woman run his restaurant… Pathetic… He is going to teach the poor chap the wrong things…’</p><p> </p><p>‘Says someone who is playing away from home every chance he gets and treats his women like garbage ’ I said angrily</p><p> </p><p>‘If a woman doesn’t obey needs to be put in her place, and is not your fucking business what I am doing!’ he raised his voice, looking at me aggressively, Austin clenched his fist under the table, he was about to say something, but I’ve put my hand on his to stop him. He immediately relaxed, and we both looked and my dad who got up from his chair with an angry expression.</p><p> </p><p>‘I had enough of you bullshit Rob! You are not going to speak to my daughter and my wife this way! Get the fuck out of here right now, or I will get rid of you myself! You show up without any explanation like to your own house with the attitude and insulting everyone… I don’t want you here… get the fuck out!’  My dad approached him and lifted by his shirt, pushing him towards the door. We could hear them arguing by the front door.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am so sorry you had to see this, he wasn’t invited’ my mum said a little embarrassed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shaun warned us beforehand, so we were kind of prepared, and you shouldn't apologise is not your fault’ Angel said calmly</p><p> </p><p>‘It’s all done mum…let’s just enjoy the rest of the evening’ rubbed her shoulders.</p><p> </p><p>We spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing in a family-like atmosphere.</p><p>My parents announced that they are going on an extended holiday around Europe to have some alone time. Austin was a lot more relaxed, he got along with Shaun and Dad very well. It was a relief to see him happy, enjoying himself with the family.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Next day I woke up alone, Austin wasn’t in bed. I looked at the clock it was 1pm, we came back very late the night before so I wasn’t surprised that we slept late. I got up and walked downstairs expecting Austin to be there, but it was too quiet, I didn’t hear him. Instead of him on the kitchen table, I found a massive box of pink roses and lilies beautifully decorated. <em>He remembered I loved pink lilies!</em></p><p>Next to the box was a note. I  instantly recognized his handwriting, I told him how much I liked it when he showed me a notebook with his poems the other day. I picked up the note and a huge smile built on my face.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘’The blaze of sunshine touches my face,</p><p>As I woke up with your thoughts, I can’t erase</p><p>And then outside the window the view I start to gaze ;</p><p>Tryin’ to solve the mystery as complex as a maze</p><p> </p><p>How is it that you are real?</p><p>My dreams never created something like you.</p><p>I still have to pinch myself, because I’m amazed you are true.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Be ready at 3pm  ‘’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I stood in the dining room with a massive smile on my face, unable to believe my luck.</p><p>
  <em>How a man who went through so much horror in his life can have so much love in him, so much sweetness and kindness? And how is it possible that I love him every day more and more… how much more it could be?</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I got ready and sat in the living room, waiting for Austin. It was a hot summer day, I had no idea what he was planning.</p><p>Suddenly I heard a loud noise outside the house, I picked up my bag and run to the door.</p><p>I saw Austin climbing off the motorbike taking off his helmet, he looked at me with a smile running his hand through his hair. He talked with my dad the night before about buying it, I didn’t think he would do it the next morning. <em>This man doesn't stop to surprise me.</em></p><p> </p><p>I ran to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing deeply, he smelt so good. His fresh citrusy cologne mixed with the smell of hot engine and leather, giving him this sexy sharpness.</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you for the flowers… and the beautiful poem’ I smiled when finally pulled from the kiss.</p><p> </p><p>‘Better get used to it … this is just a starter …’ he said with a cocky smirk  running his fingers on the small of my back.’ How do you like my beast?’  He asked, patting the seat of the bike.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I love it …you look very sexy with it.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Are you ready for our first date?’  he asked</p><p> </p><p>‘Date?! … You didn’t tell me … I am not wearing proper clothes for a date.’ I said, pointing at myself just in shorts and a blacktop.</p><p> </p><p>‘You look perfect… just grab a jacket might get a bit blowy …and  It’s at least an hour ride.’ I smiled, and I ran back to the house to grab a leather jacket.</p><p> </p><p>‘Where are we going?’ I asked       </p><p> </p><p>‘Surprise’ he smiled, passing me a helmet, and sitting on the bike. I sat behind in and wrapped my arms around him ‘Comfortable?’ He asked, rubbing my leg with his hand.</p><p> </p><p>I nodded and held on him tight when he started the engine, and moments later were on the road. The familiar feeling of freedom filled me, the speed, wind, adrenaline all this reminded me of the times when I was riding with my Dad, but this time felt different, better. I could feel Austin’s heart pounding under my arms wrapped around him. Only then I understood how much he loved it, why he spoke with so much passion about it, he missed it and finally after all this time he had it back.</p><p>After a long drive on the hideaway we turned to the unmarked rough, woodland road, from a distance I could see the sea. At the end of the woods was a small road, wide enough only for the bike, that led to the small beach. We stopped next to the rocks, I took off my helmet and instantly smelled the freshness of the sea.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is this…?’ I asked looking around</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes… this is the beach I told you about’ Austin said extending his arm for me, I took his hand, he led me through a small bit of sand towards the small cave, big enough to shelter from the intense sun.</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, this place is beautiful ‘ I said looking around, the beach was really small and cosy. Completely separated from the rest of the coast with small cliffs around it, absolutely magical.</p><p> </p><p>‘I thought that you might like it’ he smiled ‘ I got everything prepared’ he added unpacking the bags that he took from behind the rocks.</p><p>
  
</p><p>‘Did you come here already today?<em>’</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I brought everything before coming for you … it’s a date after all… I thought this will better than a fancy restaurant, I know, you are not a fan of fancy places’ he said, placing the blanket in the shadow.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Honey, you have no idea how much I love it here, I take this million times over any fancy restaurant.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I know…’ he said gently grabbing my hand ‘ Come here’ he said, pointing at the blanket and pulling me towards him‘ I brought some food, drinks and wine’ he laid everything down.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I didn’t bring my swimsuit, so I hope nobody will see me here … but I am not going to sit here in these clothes’ I smiled taking off my shirt, boots and shorts.</p><p> </p><p>‘I didn’t want to give away the surprise, I got you a swimsuit’ he smiled passing me a small bag.</p><p> </p><p>‘You really thought everything trough didn’t you?’ I smiled undoing my bra, he shot me a mischievous glance.</p><p> </p><p>‘You know what, I changed my mind, give it back … You look better without it ‘ he said, reaching for the bag.</p><p> </p><p>‘ Hey!… not everything at once, I want to enjoy a bit of sun. Plus as far as I can see you are still in  your clothes … how fair is that?’ I laughed and pulled away.</p><p> </p><p>‘Fair point’ he said with the cocky smile and took off his clothes, leaving only shorts.</p><p> </p><p>‘That’s better.’ I smiled, but I couldn’t hide the blush on my face. <em>Can he stop being so fucking hot!</em>  He spotted where my eyes were travelling and decided to change the subject, he knew I didn’t want to go there yet.</p><p> </p><p>‘You know… yesterday was great. I was shitting myself the whole morning, but when we arrived at your parent's place, and I met everyone, I really relaxed… I think last night helped me a lot. You have an amazing family’ he said, opening the wine.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am happy to hear that, my Dad likes you … And my Mum is absolutely in love with you … they are good people, they always have good intentions. Well, I can’t say that about uncle Rob, but everyone else loves you.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I delt with guys like him all my life, I usually would’ve just ignored him, but he insulted you and your mum, and  that’s something I can’t accept … nobody has rights to insult my girl without facing the consequences…the only reason I didn’t show him my fist was your Dad being ahead of me.’  </p><p> </p><p>‘Uncle Rob has a big mouth but is a pussy, it’s a waste of time on him… he was a liability to my dad all his life…but let’s not talk about him, better tell me more about this place … how often you used to come here?’</p><p> </p><p>Austin poured the wine into the glasses, he was silent, clearly deep in his thoughts, he passed me the glass and smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘First, let’s make a toast’ he raised his glass</p><p> </p><p>‘For our first date.’</p><p> </p><p>‘First of many’ he smiled, and we clinked the glasses ‘ This place used to be my escape from daily life. Not many people know about it, you can’t just drive a car here… For a little while, I used to come here every Saturday to clear my mind, forget about all the shit that was going on around me… I missed this place, and I am glad that it didn’t change a bit… because now I can share it with you’ he said, holding my hand.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I am feeling honoured to be here, this place means a lot to you, and you decided to bring me here… thank you’ I looked in his eyes, his expression was soft and sweet. That look I could only see when we are alone, only when he looked at me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Did I ever tell you how much I love you?</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, but I don’t think I will ever get tired of hearing it.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Seriously … I mean it, Maya. To be honest, sometimes, I think I love you more than I love myself.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin… I … I love you too, I wasn’t sure at first… but the thought of losing you, and your long silence, the unknown of where are you, if you are OK…that pain just proved to me how much I actually love you… and now I have you with me and… this feeling grows stronger every day… I have no words to even describe it…I never felt like this before.’  </p><p> </p><p>He leaned towards me, rubbed my cheek with his thumb and kissed me gently pulling me closer ‘ I just want you to know that from the moment I stepped out from the prison my life, the life that you saved, became yours… and no matter what future will bring remember that it will always be yours.’ His lips pressed on mine and pulled me on top of him, as much as craved him, as much as wanted to go further, I didn’t want to go there yet. I needed to see his other side. I knew that those sweet little moments are the only thing that could help him with his fears and nightmares.</p><p> </p><p>‘Fancy a swim? I smiled getting up ‘ Last one in the water swims naked’ I laughed already running.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Ok.. you asked for it !’ He laughed and ran towards me, in seconds we were surrounded by warm waves wrapped in each other's arms enjoying every moment. I felt like the happiest person in the world, I didn’t want that day to end. The happy smile on his face was the most precious view in the world.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We sat on the sand watching the sunset, Austin’s legs and arms holding me from behind, my head resting on his chest.</p><p> </p><p>‘Do you remember your promise?’ I asked gently marking circles on his leg.</p><p> </p><p>‘Of course… I remember all my promises… which one in particular?’</p><p> </p><p>‘You said something about a dream you had … us, here … you said something about showing me this dream.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh yeah?... wasn’t that you saying that we will recreate that dream?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Maybe was me … maybe you… does it matter?’ I turned my head towards his biting my lip.</p><p> </p><p>‘Alright … we better get started then’ he shot me a cocky smile before kissing me deeply ‘ but remember … this was my dream.’</p><p> </p><p>‘I am all yours’ I whispered into his mouth, he pulled me closer wrapping my legs around him, seconds later we were naked, laying on the shore waves, hitting our bodies while we moved as one completely lost it each other’s touch, forgetting the whole world around us.</p><p> </p><p>I didn’t know what future had planned for us but one thing I knew for sure, he was the only person I wanted to share it with.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Rosemary and Thyme</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Austin's POV.</p><p>Austin finally starts his new life with Maya, but someone decides disturb their peace and get his revenge.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a quiet day in the kitchen like every Monday evening, plenty of time to learn something new, and practice some tricks Leon taught me.</p><p>I was grateful he offered me a job in his restaurant seven weeks ago offering me a full training and course, three times a week in the mornings I attended his classes and in the afternoon worked at Rosemary and Thyme. It was difficult initially, but after seven weeks, I got used to the environment and people, this was the first step in my new life; specialise myself in what I love. I promised Maya I will stay away from trouble and old habits, and start from scratch, and I planned to keep that promise, failure wasn’t an option not when it came to her.</p><p> </p><p>Maya helped me with funding the medical treatment for Tylor’s father; unfortunately, the kid didn’t have it easy in prison, Jason found himself a new toy to push around and as soon as I was out the door Taylor’s horror started. Still, with Kevin's help just a week ago, they moved him to another wing far from Jason where Kevin could keep an eye in him. Leon promised to give him a job once he is out to start again and this time earn money not steal.</p><p> </p><p>I was in the middle of cleaning the kitchen getting ready to close the restaurant with a couple of guys when Leon entered with his usual warm smile.</p><p> </p><p>He was a tall, middle-aged man, always very classy and elegant, his already greyed hair neatly brushed and styled, his appearance screamed for respect. This was a man who’s knowledge about cooking couldn’t be questioned, he was a walking cooking book, and nobody dared to disagree. His restaurant won many awards in town and country. That made me work even harder to meet the expectations of authority like Leon.</p><p> </p><p>‘How are you gentlemen doing?’ he asked with his thick French accent.</p><p> </p><p>‘Finishing up, we should be done in ten minutes’ I said wiping the saucepan.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am planning to bring a new-old dish to the menu. As soon as we open tomorrow, I will show you everything. Still, first I need you to take this to Maya’ he said passing me a container ‘This was her favourite dish when she was a kid, she used to come here with her family every Friday for dinner, and she always ordered this. I took it off the menu when she went to university, but I want to bring it back, and I need her to decide if taste the same as before.’ he said with a warm smile.</p><p> </p><p>‘I will give it to her for sure’ `I smiled taking the container.</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you… now! Go home boys; this is not going to be any cleaner… chop, chop—home time.’ He said, leaving the kitchen.’ See you in the morning Austin’ he waved me.</p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later, I was home; the lights were on as every evening. Maya always waited for me. I told her so many times that she doesn’t have to wait, but the one thing I’ve learned about her; she was fucking stubborn, it was pointless trying to convince her otherwise.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hi baby’ I smiled seeing her on the sofa with the laptop on her knees- clearly still working, she put her laptop on the coffee table and approached me wrapping her arms around my neck, she placed a kiss on my lips. <em>God,</em> <em>I missed this!</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>‘How was your day, honey?’ she asked with her beautiful smile on her face—the most beautiful smile in the world.</p><p> </p><p>‘Quiet. Is Monday, so I didn’t have much to do. I did some learning … and  Leon gave me this for you to try. This is something you use to like when you were a kid, he wants to put it back on the menu, but he needs your approval first. I believe he wants to know if it tastes as good as you remember.’ I said, showing her the container.</p><p> </p><p>‘No way! Truffade!’ she jumped smiling and clapping like a little girl <em> So fucking cute!</em> ‘ I didn’t have truffade for years, Leon makes the best in the world! … what makes him put it back on the menu?’ She asked, walking towards the kitchen.</p><p> </p><p>‘No idea, he didn’t say, but I believe he wants to make some changes, get rid of few more fancy dishes -people don’t seem to order it very often, and replace it with something more homely.’ I said, joining her in the kitchen, I wrapped my arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. She smelled so good, so unique. ‘ I missed you ‘ I whispered.</p><p> </p><p>‘How much?’ She smiled mischievously ‘I think you need to show me’ She turned to face me, looked me in the eyes with that sexy look. I swear I could do everything she wanted when she looked at me like that; she made me lose control of myself. Like a spell, that only she could reverse. I pulled her closer and kissed deeply.</p><p> </p><p>‘Challenge accepted’ I breathed still kissing her.</p><p> </p><p>‘But…’ she said, pulling away ‘Food first, I am starving. We had so many meetings today; I completely forgot to eat.’</p><p> </p><p>‘True, food first. I don’t want to be on the wrong side of Leon if I don’t bring the report with your opinion tomorrow’ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>We heated the dish and sat at the table. I watched Maya’s reaction to what looked like sliced potatoes baked with cheese and ham but smelled a lot fancier than just that.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh my god…this is exactly as I remember it—pure perfection, like sex in the world of food. You can tell Leon that I approve …actually,  I will say it to him myself. I will come to the restaurant in the evening with the team; we worked very hard in the last couple of weeks, we deserve some break. Plus Greg and Gemma are travelling to Australia on Friday for a few weeks; it will be good to have a moment with them to don’t chat about work’ She said.</p><p> </p><p>I met both Gemma and Greg. Maya told me a lot about Gemma and how she didn’t approve me initially; I still felt a bit of a distance from her side. She was a very straightforward person, unable to hide her thoughts, no matter how hard she tried, her face always showed it. She was a complete opposite of Maya, all over the place, loud, always with something to say – not necessarily thinking before speaking. Greg was a quiet guy, didn’t talk much, but I didn’t like him for the way he looked at Maya when he thought nobody is looking, he clearly had feelings for her and that didn’t land well with me. He was successful, wealthy and intelligent, a perfect husband material. Greg had everything I didn’t, but on the other hand, I had everything he wanted … Maya’s love, no matter how perfect he was, how much money he had, he would never have her love.</p><p> </p><p>‘Leon will be happy to hear that you approve. This is not bad, looked a bit simple but taste good’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘I used to eat this for like four years. We were coming with my parents to Rosemary and Thyme every Friday and I wouldn’t order anything else only this.’ She laughed and got up to clean the plates.</p><p> </p><p>‘Leave it’ I said, taking the plates from her ‘ I will do it, you go and have a nice bath … it will do you good to relax a little…I will join you in a few minutes’</p><p> </p><p>‘If you insist’ she said undoing the buttons of her shirt with<em> that</em> smile. She walked upstairs, dropping her shirt on the way. I never washed the dishes faster in my whole life. I sentenced a different vibe from her that day, even the texts she sent me in the morning were different. Sassy. I was sure I would be experiencing another side of Maya that night.</p><p> </p><p>I walked into the bathroom where Maya was already in the bath full of bubbles, eyes closed, hair tied in a messy bun. I stood for a moment just looking at her, so beautiful, so pure and so sexy.</p><p> </p><p>‘I can feel you staring at me. Are you coming in?’ She asked, opening her eyes and looking at me hungrily.</p><p> </p><p>‘I was just admiring the view’ said, taking off my clothes. I sat in the bath opposite her.</p><p> </p><p>‘Now I want to admire the view’ She smiled and slowly traced her foot over the inside of my leg, I knew that trick, and she knew that this drives me insane. She moved her foot closer and closer, nearly touching my cock. She stopped and bit her lip, her eyes not leaving mine, suddenly she pulled back her foot ‘wasn’t you who supposed to show me how much you missed me?’</p><p> </p><p>‘You are driving me crazy’ I breathed, grabbed both of her legs and pulled towards me, sending a big wave of water on the floor. I knew exactly what she wanted; this wasn’t the time to play it light. I grabbed her ass and pulled closer.</p><p> </p><p>‘How crazy?’ she asked, grabbing my face in one hand and pulling towards her and kissed me hard like she never did before, biting and sucking my lip, her hips rubbing on me. Didn’t take long for me to lose it when she gently pulled my hair.</p><p> </p><p>‘I want to fuck you, Maya’ I breathed, squeezing her ass harder.</p><p>She moved her lips next to my ear and whispered nibbling my ear  ‘I am not stopping you.’ She lowered herself on me and let a sweet moan, in just seconds she turned wild like I have never seen her before. I already loved this part of her. We moved the party to bed for a second round.</p><p> </p><p>We both collapsed on the bed next to each other ‘Fucking hell baby, this was amazing.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Hell yes it was’ She smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘I didn’t know this side of you… but I love it.’</p><p> </p><p>‘That’s good… you better get used to it, because this is just the beginning’ she smiled and walked to the shower.</p><p> </p><p><em>Fuck, did she just said beginning!? ‘</em>I love all of your sides baby, but this one is in my top three’ I laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘I guessed that much’ She winked</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I woke up before the alarm; the sun was already entering the room. I looked at Maya still sleeping next to me, her naked body covered in the sunlight coming through the window, she was so beautiful, like an angel. My angel. Every morning asked myself the same question- What did I do to deserve her? She was so pure, so good, and yet her dirty mind drove me crazy. I wasn’t sure how this was even possible for someone like her to love a guy like me, broken, sick in the head with a bad temper, and so many flaws. How two completely different and yet the same souls can match so well? There was one thing I was sure; I will never let anything happen to her; I had to protect her at all costs. I would tear apart anyone who would try to hurt her. Anyone who would ever try to separate us.</p><p> </p><p> Maya shifted and opened her eyes and stretched her arms.</p><p> </p><p>‘Good morning, sleepyhead.’  I smiled, brushing her cheek with my fingers.</p><p> </p><p>‘What time is it? I didn’t hear the alarm’ She said half yawning</p><p> </p><p>‘Is just six, I woke up not long ago. You can go back to sleep; you still have one hour.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Nah, I’m already awake … but I would kill for a coffee… we had quite a workout last night.’ She laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah, we did go pretty wild last night …I only hope that poor old lady next door didn’t get a heart attack.’ I laughed. <em>Well, I’m sure the whole neighbourhood could hear our musical.</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t worry about her, she is not that innocent’ She got up and put on my shirt and lay back on the bed next to me rubbing my arm  ‘ Austin… I know it is probably nothing, but  I want to tell you something … please don’t freak out’ she said.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I will freak out if you don’t tell me.’ I said, already getting worried.</p><p> </p><p>‘In the last couple of days, I had a weird feeling that I am being watched, like someone is following me, could be that I am just overreacting. Gemma said  that I am paranoid, but … I have a bad feeling, Austin’</p><p> </p><p>I tried to hide it, but I was freaking out inside. That can’t be happening; Bennie found a way to communicate with his thugs from the outside and was looking for me. ‘I will make a couple of calls today… check with Kevin what is the status on Bennie. I think the best option is to inform the police about this.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, there is no need for police just yet. I didn’t see anyone watching me or following me. There is no need to get all paranoid.’ <em>Of course, she listened to Gemma.</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Please, take a knife with you today, at least I will be sure you have something to protect yourself with’ I said rubbing her cheek ‘ I swear if anyone hurts you, I will kill them with my bare hands’ I said feeling like my blood starts boiling inside me ‘ I mean it baby, if anyone tries to hurt you I can’t promise I will control myself.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Don’t worry; I can look after myself… didn’t I proved it to you already?’ She smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘One thing is stabbing a drunk Bennie; another one is to deal with one of his thugs… Promise me you will watch your back today, don’t go anywhere alone… take Gemma with you, everywhere. I will drop you to work, so you don’t have to take a taxi and go alone… text me every hour, I need to know you are alright. Can you promise me that?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, mum’ She giggled <em>I wished she took it a bit more seriously.</em></p><p> </p><p>I laughed but inside I was a bag of nerves. I had to know who was following her, and there was only one guy who could help me find out. Skylar.</p><p> </p><p>I’ve been in contact with Skylar for some time; I could say that we had a slowly growing friendship going on. He came back to school and was doing what he loved, his robotics were getting better, but he couldn’t entirely quit his risky life which didn’t lay well with the girl he met on Lovelink.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as I dropped Maya to work, I called Skylar and asked him to see if he can see anything suspicious, he was good at it. He promised to go back to me as soon as he sees something.</p><p> </p><p>Maya called me every hour, checking in. Skylar didn’t notice anything suspicious, but he promised to keep an eye still. I couldn’t reach Kevin; he was the only person who could give me some information on what is Bennie’s situation, but his phone was switched off the whole day.</p><p>I waited for Maya to come to the restaurant in the afternoon with Greg and Gemma, for some reason I was relieved that she wasn’t alone, but Gemma’s approach to the situation was immature and somehow made more worried.</p><p> </p><p>Just after six, I got a text from Maya that they are already here, safe. I could finally focus on work, knowing she is with me. A couple of hours later, I heard her voice when she entered the kitchen, she approached me and kissed my cheek.</p><p> </p><p>‘ I will take five’ I said to the guys, grabbing her hand and leading to the back of the building.</p><p>It was a small, dark alley between the two buildings with a small shed for bins.</p><p>I closed the door, looked around, making sure nobody was passing and kissed her deeply. I had no idea why but felt the urgent need to do it.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hello to you too’ she smiled when I pulled off ‘ How was your day?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Apart from worrying sick about you, it was good.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, I told you is probably nothing. You said yourself that Skylar didn’t see anything suspicious.’ She said, tracing her hand, trough my hair.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am still not convinced. Kevin’s phone is switched off until I speak to him I will assume the worse… We closing soon, wait for me we will go home together.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Will do, I need to speak to Leon anyway… I love you, you know?’ she smiled, pulling my face towards hers, give me a small kiss.</p><p> </p><p>‘I know… and I love you … that’s why the thought of you being in danger is unbearable. I am just worried Maya, and I can’t think of losing you… this would kill me’ I said, pulling her into a tight embrace.</p><p> </p><p>‘You won’t lose me … I promise’ she whispered.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Around nine, we closed the restaurant and started the usual cleaning.</p><p> </p><p>‘I will take the rubbish outside’ Maya said, grabbing the bags and the keys, she shot me a lovely smile, once again reminding me how much I loved her.</p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later, my phone rang. I looked around; I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that Maya wasn’t anywhere around.</p><p> </p><p>‘Hi, Shaun, what’s up?’ I answered, walking around, looking for her.</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, is Maya with you?’ he asked, I could feel a worry in his voice ‘ She is not answering her phone.’</p><p> </p><p>‘She went outside … Shaun? What’s wrong?’</p><p> </p><p>‘I just had a sudden feeling, fear and worry. I just need to know if she is OK… Austin last time I felt this was the time of her accident… please check where she is’ he was terrified, my heart pounded in my chest, and started desperately looking for her. Realising she was gone for good ten minutes, she couldn’t still be taking the rubbish out unless something happened. I went running to the back door. Suddenly I felt, fear, anger. Cold sweat flushed through my body; my breath stopped ‘ Call the police’ I said quietly and put my phone in my pocket. My eyes were locked on the man holding Maya by her neck, pinning to the wall in the dark corner of the building, he didn’t see me, but she did. The man looked familiar with his dark hair shaved on one side, his posture so familiar, but I couldn’t recall where I saw him before, then I saw a tattoo on the back of his neck. I would recognise this skull everywhere; I was there when he had it done. I felt an adrenaline and fury building in me. <em>How did he manage to escape?!</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Bennie!’ I shouted angrily, taking a few steps closer.</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin no!’ Maya screamed, when I got closer, I saw a knife pointed right into her stomach. She was shaking, Bennie’s hand squeezing her neck, she could barely breathe.</p><p> </p><p>‘One more step and you will regret this’ I heard Bennie’s voice when he turned his face towards me. My fury grew with every second; I had to do something. I couldn't let him hurt her.</p><p> </p><p>‘Let her go, and let’s sort this out between us. This is our business, not hers’ I said the first thing that came to my mind.</p><p> </p><p>‘She has everything to do with this, your stupid whore put me into jail, and she has to pay for it. I planned to kill you first, but now that I have that opportunity, I want to see your face when I take her away.’ At that moment he turned Maya by her arms in front of him, placing a knife on her throat. ‘ How about that, huh?... How about I take away something close to you? I nearly forgot that face, when you watched your whore mother kissing the ground. I wouldn’t mind seeing that again… that was quite enjoyable..’</p><p> </p><p>‘I will fucking kill you! Do you understand!? You are a dead man!’ I shouted through my teeth, taking a step forward.</p><p> </p><p>‘A, a… I wouldn’t if I were you’ he said, tightening the knife on Maya’s throat. My head was spinning; he had full control. With one move, he could take everything from me. I was paralyzed, didn’t know what to do. I had to buy myself some time before the police arrive.</p><p> </p><p>‘Bennie, this is over, let’s sort this out between us … please leave her out of it. She only tried to help me; she has nothing to do with our past.’</p><p> </p><p>He laughed ‘And do you think that your mother had anything to do with the shooting that day? …No… but others slit her throat anyway. You know very well she is not coming from this alive, and neither are you, my guys are on their way to finish you up.’ I tightened my fists and moved closer; I was close enough to do something. I looked Bennie straight in the eye, my jaw clenched, but Bennie’s knife moved closer to her skin, leaving a small cut.</p><p> </p><p>‘Honey don’t.‘ she cried. She was scared but seemed to be suspiciously calm. Suddenly I saw her gently moving her fingers towards her sleeve, and a small knife slipped from under it.</p><p> </p><p>‘The only dead here should be you’ she said thrusting the knife in his hip, at the same moment I run towards them. Maya jumped away when I threw myself on Bennie, we both landed on the ground, me on top of him, pinning him to the cold, dirty floor.</p><p>I completely lost control, my fists landing on his face with all the force I had me.  I felt his bones crushing with each punch. He hit back, but my fury and anger made me numb to his fists. I didn’t feel any pain, just anger and hate.</p><p> </p><p> Suddenly I heard a suffocating sound in front of me, I looked and my heart crushed. I saw Maya laying on the ground pressing on her neck with her hand covered in blood, fighting to catch her breath. I felt my eyes filling with tears, but before I managed to turn my attention back to Bennie whose face was already unrecognizable, I felt a warmth on my chest, I landed on my back. A sharp pain filled my chest; my legs started to feel like poked with hundreds of needles, I turned my head desperately looking for Maya. I heard voices and a police siren; I couldn't identify anyone around my eyes went blurry; my breath has gone chore, and the noises around me slowly faded.</p><p>I couldn't allow it to be the end, not before I know if Maya is ok, I fought with myself calling her name begging whoever was there to tell me if she is alive.</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, hey bro… she will be fine… calm down… stay with me ‘ heard a very faint voice but I recognized it. Skylar’s face was the last thing I saw before everything went dark.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Mother Karma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I felt a sharp pain before landing on the ground. My neck was bleeding, Bennie’s knife was so close to my skin that even though I managed to release myself from him, he still cut me.</p><p> </p><p>At first, I thought it was just a small scratch, so my eyes landed on Austin who’s fists continuously crushed Bennie’s face. Austin’s face was terrifying full of hate and fury; he completely lost control of himself. A small part of me was scared of him in this form, was this Austin from the past? Is that who he was? He talked about this so many times, how he had to fight with himself, how horrible he felt every time he had. to hurt someone.</p><p> </p><p>I called his name a few times, but he didn’t listen just kept throwing punches one after another, like in the trans. For a moment I thought he would kill Bennie, there was no way he could survive this. Everything was happening so fast, but at the same time felt like forever.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly I saw Bennie reaching for his knife, that was not far from his arm when I was about to get up, I felt a metallic taste in my mouth, and in a split of a second I started to choke, I couldn’t catch my breath. I pressed my hand on my neck, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.</p><p>Austin looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears; I tried to warn him, but I couldn’t make a sound until it was too late. Bennie thrust his knife right into Austin’s chest; I was too weak to get up, too weak to scream or even cry. I felt hopeless, watching him collapsing on the ground hurt more than anything. I heard him yelling my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched my boyfriend bleed, and there was nothing I could do.</p><p>I saw two guys taking Bennie, dragging him away, he yelled to finish us off, but police sirens stopped them from it, I saw them running away before everything went dark.</p><p> </p><p>----</p><p> </p><p>I woke up hearing familiar voices. I opened my eyes and saw my Dad’s face, smiling. Everything felt like a dream, faded.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, sweetie’ I heard him say.</p><p> </p><p>I looked around I was laying on the hospital bed, surrounded by familiar faces, Shaun, and Dad. I tried to move my head, but sharp pain followed, and then everything came back to me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Where am I?’ I asked, barely making a sound, I cleared my throat and tried again, this time more successfully ‘Where am I?’ <em>I knew exactly where I was, but I needed that confirmation. I needed to know if I’m awake or this is just a dream.</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Sweetie, you are in the hospital. Thank god you are awake, we were losing our minds… Don’t force yourself … Shaun, go to get the doctor.’ My Dad said, holding my hand.</p><p> </p><p>‘Where is Austin?’ I shifted nervously looking around. I had no idea if he was even alive. I passed away right after Bennie’s escape, and he was badly wounded’ Please tell me he is OK… Dad, where is he ?’ I panicked, my eyes filled with tears by the thought that he didn’t make it. <em>Please don’t tell me he is dead! </em></p><p> </p><p>‘Shh... Hey!... calm down. He is here, few rooms away.’ He said, trying to calm me down, but his face was serious, I knew that look. That wasn’t very reassuring.</p><p> </p><p>‘How is he? Is he awake?’</p><p> </p><p>‘I don’t know the details; your Mum spends a lot of time with him. She told me he is fine, but doctors can’t say much until he is awake. You were a bit luckier than him’ He said, stroking my cheek. I knew he isn’t telling me the whole truth.</p><p> </p><p>‘How long we’ve been here?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Six days’ He said ‘ but that doesn't matter, you are OK, and that’s all it matters.’</p><p> </p><p>‘What about Bennie? Please tell me they found him, he couldn’t go far.’</p><p> </p><p>‘No sweetie, they didn’t fund him. Police are looking for him; he seemed to vanish.’</p><p> </p><p>‘What you mean, vanish!? In a puff of smoke!? He is a person, not a wizard! I saw the police arriving when he was escaping Dad!... he couldn't go far. He needed medical assistance, did they checked hospitals? What about his old house?’ I felt anger build inside me. ‘ How did he even managed to escape the prison!?’</p><p> </p><p>‘One of the guards helped him for a reasonable sum of money, and few others were covering his ass…they will find him, Maya. Stop worrying now; they know what they are doing.’</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I doubt that very much.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>At that moment, I saw a doctor coming into the room with a nurse. Alex was a young and handsome doctor; he looked after me after my accident. Also, we had a history of short but very steamy romance back from the Uni times. After my accident, we met a few times for how they called it – Netflix and chill, but after a few dates, we called it a day as our relations were strictly physical. We decided to be friends, and while we were single friends with benefits. Last time we saw each other was a few months ago just before I met Austin.</p><p>
  
</p><p>‘And who we have here? Maya Clark decided to wake up finally. You do like to keep us waiting, huh?’  He smiled coming closer; the nurse started to remove the bandages from my neck. ‘ We did our best to stitch you up nicely, wasn’t a deep cut, but very messy. It was mostly superficial, but there was small damage to the carotid artery and jugular vein, where the substantial bleeding came from. You will be fine. You will be able to go back home in a few days.’ He said, looking at the cut, he brushed his fingers on my neck shooting me a glance, I knew he still had hots for me, unfortunately for him, from my side, there was none left ‘Is starting to heal nicely.’ He smiled, touching my neck for a little bit too long.</p><p> </p><p>‘And what is Austin’s situation? Will he be alright? … but Alex, be honest, please’ I looked him in the eyes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Austin’s wound was deep, causing severe internal damage. The knife missed the heart but didn’t spare the lungs; we managed to patch him up, but the internal bleeding did more damage than we thought. So far he is functioning well, but we need to wait for him to wake up to have a full diagnose… I am optimistic; he is very strong.’ He said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.</p><p> </p><p>‘What you mean by more damage?’</p><p> </p><p>‘So far, all his organs are functioning correctly, and we are monitoring it, but I will be honest with you Maya, the possibility of coma is strong. The fact that he didn’t wake up yet points to it, but we are giving him another few days to be sure’ Alex said</p><p> </p><p>‘Coma!?... No, no… I need to see him now!’ I said starting to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and fell back on the bed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Easy there … Not yet, you should be resting. We will have you checked today, and we will see tomorrow, I will keep you updated on him, I promise’  He said with a smile, helping me lay down.</p><p> </p><p>‘Alex please, I need to see him now... do you want me to beg?’ I said. He knew that if he didn’t help me, I would go one way or another.</p><p> </p><p>‘Ok…I will have a nurse to take you there in few. I need to check on him anyway so I can keep an eye on you as well’ He smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you Alex’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘It will sound bad, but I didn’t want to see you here again so soon. You two were very lucky; few more minutes could’ve been too late.’  he said and walked off the room.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>My mum stormed into the room, wearing sweat pants and hoody, she looked so tired, her hair was messy, no make-up. She smiled when she saw me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, sweetie’ she cried and wrapped her arms around me ‘ you give us a proper scare’ she said, kissing my forehead ’how are you feeling, love?’</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m good Mum, my neck is a little bit sore, but Alex said it would heal well’ I smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘You have no idea how we were all worried about you two. Shaun called us when we were at the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. He said you would be fine, but Austin… ‘ she stopped and looked at me, her face was full of worry.</p><p> </p><p>‘Mum?’</p><p> </p><p>‘You should go to him, Alex said that he could hear everything, maybe if he will hear you he will get better.’ she said ‘I’m sure he is sick of hearing my voice’ she laughed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya...’ Alex’s head pop through the door ‘ Ready?’ he asked.</p><p> </p><p>I nodded, the nurse brought the wheelchair and helped me sit, a few moments later, we entered the room.</p><p> </p><p>‘I will leave you here for a moment; I just need to check on him.’ He said. Austin’s chest was wrapped in bandages; I was so glad to see him in one piece.</p><p> </p><p>‘He’s heartbeat is slow, that’s not a good sign.’  I heard Alex whispering to the nurse; he saw me staring and turned away and said something to her; she walked off the room.</p><p> </p><p>‘Alex… should I be worried?’ I asked.</p><p> </p><p>‘No Maya, everything is ok’ he give me a reassuring smile.</p><p> </p><p>I turned to Austin, grabbed his hand gently in both of my hands ‘My mum told me that he could hear us? Is that correct?’ I asked.</p><p> </p><p>He nodded, I pushed myself up from the chair and brought my face close to his, I kissed his temple still holding his hand ‘Austin… honey… I’m here’ I whispered to his ear ‘ don’t you dare to leave me, you hear me? I need you to wake up.’ I heard the cardiac monitor beeping faster. I turned my head to Alex and smiled; he smiled back.</p><p> </p><p>I’ve put my hand on Austin’s chest gently rubbing his skin ‘Come back to me.’ I whispered.</p><p> </p><p>‘Whatever you are doing is working’ Alex said, stopping the nurse from injecting some medication to Austin‘ Rose, I don’t think we will need that, for now.’ he smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘Can you move me to this room?’ I asked, looking at Alex.</p><p> </p><p>‘If that will make you rest, I will have that arranged … you are still weak, and I know how annoyingly stubborn you are, if I don’t agree to that I will never see you in your bed resting, but I trust you know what you are doing’ he said.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Thank you, Alex.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Before I leave, there was a guy, he came here a few times asking to visit, but we didn’t let him in. I asked your parents, but they didn’t know him, Skylar Quinn? Sounds familiar? black hair, blue eyes, looks pretty young.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, he is a friend’ I smiled ‘ I will text him and tell him to come over.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Great, I will pass that to the reception.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The same night my bed has been moved to Austin’s room next to him. I knew that me being close to him will help in his recovery. My parents finally went home to get some rest</p><p>I texted Skylar letting him know we are okay and that I need to talk to him urgently.</p><p> </p><p>I needed Skylar’s help; I knew that police wouldn’t find Bennie and I had to do it myself, for our own sake, so we could finally have some peace.</p><p> This had to end, Bennie being around had to end. After that event something in me broke, I felt pure hate and rage every time I thought of Bennie. It wasn’t just about what happened that night; it had more to do with Austin’s mother, his face when Bennie mentioned her was so full of pain and sadness, I knew deep down that this bastard had something to do with it, and I had to know what exactly happened.</p><p> </p><p>I decided to relax and buried my mind into the Outlander, checking every now and then on Austin. The room was utterly silent; I could hear only beeping of the machines. I was deep into my book when I heard a quiet gasp, I turned my head and put my book down, Austin’s eyes were openly looking right at me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Baby’ he said quietly. I jumped off my bed and sat next to him, grabbing his hand. I smiled wildly; I was so happy to see him awake.</p><p> </p><p>‘Careful, love.’ I said when he started to move around, trying to get up. ‘Don’t move; I will call the doctor.’ I said, pressing the button on the side of the bed and smiled, I turned my head back to him and rubbed his face with my hand.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m so happy to see you alive Maya’ he said quietly ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ His voice was soft and warm.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m stronger than you think’ I smiled, happy tears falling down my face ‘But we are both fine, and that’s what matters now.’ He moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and kissed.</p><p> </p><p>‘I love you so much baby, I felt like the world shattered in a million pieces when I saw you there.’ I saw a single tear falling on his cheek.</p><p> </p><p>‘I love you too. And I’m fine.’ I smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘Did they catch Bennie?’ he asked.</p><p> </p><p>I tried to keep my face straight, but he knew, he could read me right through.</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin…let’s see what the doctor says first and then I will tell you ok? You are too weak yet; you should rest.’ I said, knowing that wasn’t convincing at all.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya… please, tell me. I need to know.’</p><p> </p><p>I took a deep breath ‘He escaped…but police are looking for him, they are close’ I said trying to calm him down.</p><p> </p><p>He didn’t say anything, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the same anger I saw that night.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Welcome back’ Alex smiled ‘Is good to see you finally with us…Maya could you give us a minute, Alex asked smiling touching my hand, the way he definitely shouldn’t  I pulled it away quickly. <em>What the hell was that about?! </em></p><p> </p><p>I kissed Austin gently on the lips, grabbed my phone and walked out the room.</p><p>I called my parents to tell them that he woke up. Mum wanted to come over right away, but I told her that he needs to rest, after all, it was the middle of the night.</p><p> </p><p>I sat in the corridor deep in my thoughts, completely lost the feeling of time. Something was bothering me; something I had in my head ever since I woke up. Austin’s face, when Bennie mentioned his mother, did he really watched her die? Is this his last memory of her? And what Bennie had to do with it? I knew she died when he was only a kid and that he didn’t remember her for a long time, but what exactly happened? All those questions in my head, I needed to know the whole story, soon. I needed to decide on what to do. Next, I couldn’t just let it go. I found Bennie before, I could find him again.</p><p> </p><p>I felt tapping on my shoulder; I looked up, it was Alex. He sat next to me and smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘Everything is on order; he is like newborn, we will need to keep an eye on him for at least one more week to make sure everything is healing nicely, but I don’t see any complications. Everything is absolutely fine Maya.’</p><p> </p><p>‘You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, thank you.’ I smiled and hugged him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Couple of days.’ he said, getting up.</p><p> </p><p>I went back to the room, Austin was sitting on the bed, smiling.</p><p> </p><p>‘They unplugged me.’ he laughed and extended his arm to me ‘Come here you.’</p><p> </p><p>He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close; he pressed his head on my chest. I kissed the top his head burring my fingers in his hair. He held me tight, rubbing my back. He looked up and pulled my chin gently to him, I cupped his face and kissed him deeply; everything around stopped to exist; it was just us. The kiss was different from any others, stronger, more intimate, but not in a sexual way. There was something different, like a magical dose of happiness spreading through my whole body. Austin pulled away looked in my eyes.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m sorry baby’ he said.</p><p> </p><p>‘What for?’ I was a bit confused.</p><p> </p><p>‘I failed you … I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you, I should’ve reacted sooner… but the feeling of him having full control… the fear of losing you completely took control over me.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Austin, stop it! Don’t even go there … there was nothing you could do, we are alive. That’s the most important; you didn’t fail me, you are still here, you didn’t give up.’ I said, rubbing his face.</p><p> </p><p>‘I should've protected you better.’ he looked down.</p><p> </p><p>I pulled his face up ‘You protected me the best you could… for god sake, you nearly died, Austin, how can you talk about failure? You would’ve failed me if you died… leaving me alone … that would’ve been a failure. Because guess what smart ass, I would die without you, do you understand?!’  I said with a serious face. <em> How can he even think like this?</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Bennie is going to pay for this, for everything he did. I will make him pay for this.’ He said with anger. I felt like it was time for him to tell me what I needed to know before he does anything stupid and irrational. <em> Like what I planned to do? Such a hypocrite Maya!</em></p><p> </p><p>We laid together on his bed wrapped in each other, enjoying the silence. I decided it is time to start “that” conversation.</p><p> </p><p>‘I had so many dreams in the last few days. I didn’t know if I am alive or dead, but the dreams were so real, none of them made any sense. Did you dream about anything?’ I asked, tracing his chest gently with my finger.</p><p> </p><p>‘I did, about many things. Mostly about you, all of our happy moments, about prison and my childhood, but there was one thing that kept repeating.’ He said but didn’t continue; he looked into the distance, his face was sad and full of pain.</p><p> </p><p>‘What was it? I asked, looking at him.</p><p> </p><p>‘My mother, she was wearing the same clothes when I last saw her, she stood in the middle of our old garden, smiling, she kept repeating my name and my pop’s name like she was calling us, then I heard a gunshot, and she was gone. It was a brief moment, but for some reason, I felt weird like happy to see her but also scared, the same way when she died the same type of fear. ’ He said, still looking at the distance. I grabbed his hand; he turned his head towards me and looked at me. ‘ What is wrong? Tell me, I can feel you want to tell me something, but you are holding back.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Well, I dreamt about many things as well, but mostly Bennie, his voice that night, when he spoke about your mother. Just the pieces of the whole situation with his voice, what he said and how he said it. Also your face at that moment, honey, what happened to her? You never told me…, and I have this horrible feeling that Bennie had something to do with this.’</p><p> </p><p>He once again looked away, for a moment didn’t say anything. I let him take his time; I knew he wanted to tell me. After a couple of minutes, he took a deep breath and held my hand tighter, still looking away.</p><p> </p><p>‘I was eight years old when that happened. Bennie was already a teenager; he was old enough to be involved in the business with pop. He was always jealous of me because pop treated me better; after all, I was younger and less problematic. His mother was a drug addict; she died when he was no more than two. Pop decided to move on and met my mother; she was an average person, a nurse, with a golden heart and face like an angel. Pop told me that it was difficult for her to get into his lifestyle, but everything changed when I was born. She raised Bennie like his own son, at least she tried. She treated us equally no matter which one of us was at fault she punished us equally, but he hated her for some reason, and he hated me more than anything. He made my life difficult every chance he got; Pop didn’t have time to discipline him he wasn’t home very often, so we were left with mum, I know she loved him, she was a good person, she never hated anyone… She always said that nobody is perfect, but everyone can be fixed …One day she went to chop shop to talk to pop, but she saw something that she shouldn’t, few guys from the other gang tried to rob my Pop’s shop, she saw their faces but managed to escape home, not for long. A few days later we were home, waiting for Pop to come back when they showed up, I don’t remember in detail what happened but… they questioned her first and even though she said she wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what she saw, they slit her throat in front of my eyes, only because she saw them, she had no idea who they were and what they were doing there. Only years later, I’ve learned that Bennie was the one who told them who she was, he also told them that she worked with pop, which was a lie…they killed her because of him, Maya, he hated her and found the way to get rid of her, and hurt me in one go, after everything, she’s done for him …’Austin’s eyes filled with tears, which he quickly tried to wipe. He turned his had to me and looked at me ‘ He took everything from me, exactly the way he always said he would. Mum, Pop, my freedom, and he tried to take you.’ He rubbed my cheek with his thumb wiping my tears.</p><p> </p><p>My heart dropped, the pain I saw in his eyes was heartbreaking.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m so sorry, baby; I can’t even begin to imagine how you felt, and how you feel right now. But know this… You have me, and I love you. That will never change.’ I said, pulling myself up and wrapping my arms around his neck.</p><p> </p><p>‘You are all I’ve got, Maya. All I care about.’ He said, burying his face in my neck, I felt him crying, he tried to hide it, but I squeezed him tight and rubbed his back; he relaxed and finally let it go, the hate, the rage, the pain everything built through the years. Hear him cry broke my heart; I knew that I was the first and the last person to hear this story from him.</p><p> </p><p>I realised that I never hated anyone as much I hated Bennie, I never wished anyone death before, but at this moment I wanted him to die in pain, with whole this pain that Austin felt.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We talked for hours, he told me about his mother's good memories, all the happy things he remembered.</p><p> </p><p>I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night; I was busy planning my next move.</p><p> </p><p>‘There you are lovebirds… I walked past this room at least three times’ I heard a familiar voice in the room, I was so deep into my thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone entering, I’ve put my book down and saw Skylar hanging his jacket on the chair.</p><p> </p><p>‘Skylar!’ I got out of bed and hugged him. ’So good to see you’ I smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘How are you doing you, bastard? You gave me a proper scare; I thought for a moment that you were gone, but ambulance came just in time.’ he said, looking at Austin.</p><p> </p><p>‘I’m tougher than I look. ’Austin smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘How come you were there?’ I asked.</p><p> </p><p>‘I followed Bennie’s thugs; I arrived seconds after they escaped with him.’ I saw Austin’s jaw clench.</p><p> </p><p>‘Let’s go to get coffee; Alex said you couldn’t stress.’ I said, rubbed Austin’s arm and whispered in his ear ‘I will be back to you in just a moment, I love you.’ I kissed him, stroking his hair gently.</p><p> </p><p>‘Bring me coffee, ok?’ He smiled.</p><p> </p><p>‘I will be back soon, mate, ladies first.’ Skylar laughed</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I took Skylar to the cafeteria; we sat far from others. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what had to tell him. We ordered coffee, and I cut to the point.</p><p> </p><p>‘I have a plan… but not a word about this to Austin ok?’  Skylar raised his brow and leaned closer. I knew he would be interested. ’Will you help me?’ I asked</p><p> </p><p>‘I will’ he smiled</p><p> </p><p>‘I need to find Bennie; the police is useless’ I said, he rolled his eyes laughing.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock … you are lucky because I know exactly where he is’ he smiled and sat back in his chair sipping his coffee.</p><p> </p><p>‘How come?’ I asked, surprised.</p><p> </p><p>‘I told you before; I followed one of his thugs. Right after the ambulance took you two, I went after them. My friend Seth hacked this idiot’s phone and installed a tracker; he never leaves Bennie’s side so wherever he is, Bennie is close’ He said showing me the app on his phone with Bennie’s location.</p><p> </p><p>‘Can this information be wiped? Can anyone find out that this guy’s phone is tracked?’ I asked he looked at me trying to figure out what am I talking about.</p><p> </p><p>‘Well yes, once Seth disables the tracker, there will be no sign of it… Maya, why do you need to know this? What the fuck are you planning?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Do you trust him?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, we helped each other a few times; he is a great hacker. He hacks everything and does what he wants with it.’ He had no idea how valuable that information was for me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Great, we will need him… I need you to keep tracking Bennie. I will be out of the hospital in two days. I need you to be ready the same evening.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, what the fuck are you planning? And why I have a feeling this is something crazy?’</p><p> </p><p>‘We are going to pay Bennie a visit … and finish it once and for all.’ I said, making sure nobody is listening.</p><p> </p><p>‘Elaborate … I don’t think I understand this correctly, what you mean by the ‘’finish it’’?’ Skylar looked a bit worried.</p><p> </p><p>‘Bennie won’t stop hunting us, even if he goes back to prison, he won’t stop. He has people working for him, but they are loyal because he pays them. Austin told me all about the whole gang business; everything will stop once Bennie is gone, and I want to make this happen. Also, there is something else, but I don’t want to talk about this right now.’</p><p> </p><p>‘You are going to turn him in?’ He knew exactly what I mean, but he tried to make sure we are talking about the same thing.</p><p> </p><p>‘No’ I said looking Skylar in the eyes, he understood ‘ How many thugs are with him?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Two, he keeps a low profile …Maya this is crazy you know that right?’</p><p> </p><p>‘I know, but that’s the only way. I need Austin to have some peace… Skylar I nearly lost him, and that’s not the first time. Bennie is responsible for so much pain in his life; he killed his father, was the main reason for this mother’s death, and tried to kill me. If this is not a good reason to finish him, I don’t know what is. If I don’t do it, Austin will, and I can’t allow it, that’s why I need to you stay quiet, don’t tell him anything until it is done.’ I said in a quiet voice.</p><p> </p><p>‘Are you sure about this? I am not the best bodyguard, you know?’ He laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘Darling, my father is a first rank Capitan, me and Shaun had self-defence classes since we were toddlers, with a good plan this will be easy. Plus Shaun will be there as well you just need to make sure that your friend Seth takes care of all the cameras around the area for at least two hours.’</p><p> </p><p>‘You have it all planned out … you cheeky...’ he laughed</p><p> </p><p>‘You underestimated me, Skylar Quinn.’ I laughed back</p><p> </p><p>‘You know that Austin will be furious when he finds out, we are talking about real shit here, Maya. One mistake and we are all going to jail.’</p><p> </p><p>‘So we need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes.’ I said confidently ‘ Skylar. I nearly died there. I have to take that chance; Bennie doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as we are. So, are you in or not?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I’m in.’ he said ‘ I will sort everything out with Seth and come back to you as soon as I have the full confirmation, let’s just hope Bennie will stay in place for two days’ Skylar said looking at his phone.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We went back to the room; Skylar stayed for a bit longer, talking to Austin.</p><p>I knew that deep inside; he was excited about our little plan. He was a man of adrenaline and risk after all.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Two days later, I was released home in the morning. Skylar already confirmed that his friend Seth is waiting for our signal.</p><p> </p><p>‘Is Shaun coming to pick you up?’ Austin asked, sitting on the bed, watching me gather all my stuff.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, he is already waiting in the car.’ I said, sitting next to him. ‘I will come tomorrow, pop into Cinnaholic and grab you something, huh? What do you fancy?.’ I asked.</p><p> </p><p>‘Oh you know how much I love the Caramel Apple Pie, you can get the Cookie Monster as well… shit you give me a taste now, baby. I might need to pop into the cafe to satisfy my needs.’ He laughed ‘But remember, don’t forget the fork this time.’</p><p> </p><p>I rolled my eyes ‘ You mean the fork you never use?.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘Ha. Ha… it’s for you silly, I am a trained professional I don’t need a fork. ‘He said, smiling.</p><p> </p><p>‘Right, trained professional, maybe you should make videos and post it online, maybe you will get them for free if you get enough followers, and you will have some hot chicks thirsting and watching your face getting covered in icing.’ I laughed.</p><p> </p><p>‘Maybe I should, you convince me with the hot chicks.’ He smiled, I pushed him when he started to laugh ‘You should see your face.’ he cracked laughing</p><p> </p><p>‘Not funny Austin Russo, not funny at all.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘Baby, you know that the only hot chick I care about is you.’ He said, pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What’s wrong? You seem concerned about something … talk to me.’ <em>Shit, did he noticed? Poker face Maya, focus, he can’t suspect anything.</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>‘No, I’m fine, just the thought of sleeping alone tonight makes me sad.’ I said the first thing that came to my mind, hoping he will believe it.</p><p> </p><p>‘Alex said they are waiting for some results and I will be good to go. Hopefully, not too long.’ He smiled and kissed me; my phone kept ringing when we kissed.</p><p> </p><p>‘I should go, Shaun is getting impatient. I love you, boo.’ I said talking my bag and placed a small kiss on his lips.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘I love you too … don’t forget the fork.’ He laughed when I walked out.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I sat in Shaun’s car; my mind was already focused on one task.</p><p> </p><p>‘Do you have everything?’ I asked</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I can’t believe you kept all this Luke’s stuff…We don’t have much time to get ready. I will ask you one last time Maya… are you hundred per cent sure you want to do this? There as so many ways this could go wrong.’ Shaun said, squeezing the steering wheel.</p><p> </p><p>‘Shaun, we have everything planned, we just need to focus and stick to the plan.’ I said, trying to sound confident, but the more I thought about this, the less optimistic I was.</p><p> </p><p>‘Are you sure those drugs are still good? It’s been a while.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I checked. This shit never expires.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Ok, I trust you sister. If this is what you want, I will support you, but I think you should warn Austin, just if anything gets tits up.’</p><p> </p><p>‘Everything will be fine, I don’t want to worry him, plus he would never agree to this.’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We arrived home; I took a shower to clear my mind. I’ve put the most suitable clothes: skinny black jeans, a black shirt and camp boots. I’ve put my hair in the high ponytail. I zipped my leather jacket and looked in the mirror, taking a deep breath and correcting my leather gloves. I checked my pockets and boots for the hidden knives and opened walked to my spare room.</p><p> </p><p>In the corner of the room right behind some of my paintings was a small chest of drawers, my hands were shaking, I didn’t open this drawer since Luke died, all his stuff was there, but I was after only one thing. I moved aside neatly folded shirts and grabbed the gun; we had only three bullets, enough to finish the job.</p><p>My heart pounded in my chest. I looked at the gun, remembering when Luke brought it home, together with the drugs, that he never managed to use and I never dared to get rid of, the gun was stolen, Luke stole it from some drug dealer long time ago. Police won’t link it to us, that was the plan, use it for a good cause. I stuck it in my belt behind my jacket and walked downstairs where Shaun was waiting for me.</p><p> </p><p>‘Should I go now?’ he asked</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, I will call Skylar and go to get him. I will meet you there.’ I said, hugging him.</p><p> </p><p>‘Good luck to all of us … I hope we will come out from this in one piece.’ He hugged my tight.</p><p> </p><p>‘We will.’ I said and kissed his cheek.</p><p> </p><p>I called Skylar; the stress started to kick off. I was restless walking from one side of the room to another.</p><p> </p><p>‘You ready?’ I asked when he picked up.</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, waiting for you. I will let Seth know to go ahead; he is waiting for my call.’ He said</p><p> </p><p>‘Great, I will be at your house in fifteen minutes… Skylar … thank you.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>‘You will thank me once is over, now get your ass in here, we have a job to do.’ He said, and hang up. I looked out the window it was already dark. <em> Its time. </em></p><p> </p><p>I picked up the bike keys from the counter, checked my phone one last time and wrote a message to Austin, before leaving my phone on the table. I knew he would call me later at night, better for him to think I’m sleeping.</p><p> </p><p>‘’I love you, see you tomorrow boo.’’</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>I didn’t know if using Austin’s bike is a wise idea, but that was a better way to escape quickly, than using my mini Cooper, that takes ages to build up the speed.</p><p> </p><p>Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Skylar’s door; he walked out as soon as he saw me, put on his helmet and wrapped his arms around my waist.</p><p> </p><p>‘Ready?’ I asked</p><p> </p><p>‘Yes, go.’ He said</p><p> </p><p>The place was around forty minutes outside town, all the way there I had only one thing in my head, everything that Austin told me about Bennie, how hateful and horrible person he is, how much pain he caused him and others. Everything he told me the night before only gave me straight and motivation.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We arrived at the place; it was a field with nothing else than farm buildings. We stopped around a hundred meters from the place Bennie was staying, in the middle of a little forest. Seth made sure that all the street cameras are disabled around the area for the next hour.</p><p> </p><p>Shaun was already there waiting, making sure everything is in place, Skylar went first to explore the area and check the situation inside the house, he knew what he was doing.</p><p> </p><p>Five minutes later he came back ‘ Is looking good, only two guys and Bennie, they are all in the middle room… Shaun and I can go there from the back, and you go by the front door. Bennie is sitting in the middle, and the others are walking around the room, we will need to get them from two sides. Maya, you stand by the front door and wait until we get the other two, the front door seems unlocked. Also, they are full of buzz, which makes it easier.’ He said, checking his pocket for the syringe. ‘Got it.’ He smiled.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>‘Ok, let’s go then…remember in the neck, and all of it.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>They both nodded. I walked quietly to the front of what looked like an old farmhouse; I could hear Bennie talking. I looked through the gap in the window for a sign of Skylar or Shaun.</p><p>Bennie was sitting on the chair, with his legs on the table and bottle in his hand. His face was in the rag order, black eyes, cut lip, bruises all over, seeing him like this gave me joy, I knew that after today more would join to add some more bruises to his collection. Two other guys were walking around the back of the room, one of them was pretty big and packed; with a stupid look on his face, he didn’t look very smart. The other was average, skinny but tall, and both seemed pretty buzzed, I hoped that Skylar would go after the smaller guy, my heart dropped when I saw his face behind the gorilla-like looking guy. <em> Fuck sake, Skylar! </em></p><p>On the other side, Shaun was getting ready to go after the other guy; they give me a sign and both of them at the same time walked behind them striking them on the back of the head.</p><p> </p><p>‘What the fuck!’ Bennie jumped from the chair and reached for his gun.</p><p> </p><p>It was time for me, I opened the door, pointing the gun towards Bennie.</p><p> </p><p>‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ I said, walking inside; my heart was pounding in my chest, I barely managed to keep my hands from shaking.</p><p> </p><p>‘You bitch! I should’ve fucking finish you when I had a chance!’ He shouted, turning towards me a bit shaky.</p><p> </p><p>‘You should've.’ I said, still pointing the gun at him; I saw Skylar injecting the drugs to the other two. Shaun grabbed Bennie from behind and pressed a knife to his throat. ‘You will pay for everything; this is my promise to you… you took everything from Austin, everything he loved the most, now I will take everything from you. You will remember my face until you kiss the ground.’ I said, approaching him. I pressed the gun to his head, looking him right in the eyes, I could feel Shaun and Skylar staring at me. I felt like pulling the trigger right at that moment, the desire to blow his head off was so strong that I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or hate that made me feel like this, but I knew I had to control it. <em>Stick to the fucking plan, Maya!</em></p><p> </p><p>‘Come on, do it.’ Bennie laughed ‘ That will make you one of us. Just what Austin needs, a chick who can kill.’</p><p> </p><p>I took a step back, still pointing the gun at him, my eyes not leaving his. I couldn’t read him; he showed zero remorse or fear; I could only see evil.</p><p> </p><p>‘I didn’t say I’m going to kill you; I’m not a murderer like you. I only said I would make you pay for everything you’ve done. Someone else will do the dirty work for me.’ I said and pointed the gun at one of his thugs, lying on the ground unconscious, pulled the trigger, and shot him on the shoulder, I moved to the other and did the same.</p><p> </p><p>‘What the fuck are you doing you stupid whore!’ Bennie shouted and tried to move, but Shaun held him tight.</p><p> </p><p>‘I am sure that your gang members will be pleased to find out that their boss shot two of his mates. Mostly the ones in prison, where you will wake up tomorrow morning. I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.’  I finally saw a flinch of fear in his eyes; he didn’t saw it coming. ‘You messed with the wrong girl, Bennie. I love your brother more than anything in this world, and I would do anything for him, you tried to destroy his life for years, but I will destroy yours with a blink of an eye.’ I looked at Skylar and nodded, he stuck the syringe into his neck, I saw Bennie’s eyes getting heavy, he mumbled something before landing on the ground.</p><p> </p><p>‘Come on we have to hurry up, we don’t have much time.’  Shaun said and starter to move things around.</p><p> </p><p>I placed the gun in Bennie’s hand, making sure his fingerprints are on it.</p><p> </p><p>‘Are you sure they won’t remember anything?’ Skylar asked</p><p> </p><p>‘I am sure they will wake up like after the heavy partying, they won’t remember a damn thing.’ I said, looking at Bennie. Skylar and Shaun were on their way out.</p><p> </p><p>I stared at Bennie, the whole feeling from before still dominating my mind. I  picked up a chair and smashed it on Bennie’s head with all the force I had, pieces of the broken chair flew around the room  ‘Maya for god sake, what the fuck are you doing, we are done here, we need to go!’ Shaun grabbed my arm, pulling me out.</p><p> </p><p>‘Motherfucker! I hope you die in pain!’ I shouted.</p><p>The whole adrenaline in me started to sink when I walked out the door.</p><p> </p><p>‘Let’s get the fuck out of here; I messaged Seth to call the cops.’ Skylar said, sitting on the bike behind me.‘ I hope you have something strong to drink at home because I fucking need it.’ He said.</p><p> </p><p>We drove back to my house, and spend the rest of the night in silence, drinking.</p><p>It was done, the whole plan worked. Now the most challenging part was ahead … tell Austin.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Elizabeth's house</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Austin and Maya finally find their place in the world. ( Explicit-Steamy part)</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I got woken up by Skylar falling on the floor from the sofa. I opened my eyes and felt a horrible pain reaching my brain. <em>How much did we drink last night?</em></p><p>Shaun was sleeping on the armchair in a what looked like ‘’that will hurt in the morning’’ position. Skylar mumbled something, pulling the blanket from the sofa and curling up on the floor.</p><p>I was still in the clothes from the night before, took off my boots and walked to the kitchen filling a glass with water, after at least five drinks I made coffee I needed this black brew more than anything at this moment. I looked at the clock it was seven in the morning, that would explain the darkness outside.</p><p>I saw my phone flashing from the kitchen counter in the corner of my eye, exactly where I left it last night before I left, I picked up the phone and saw a message from Austin.</p><p> </p><p>‘’Good Morning my Angel,</p><p>I missed you last night.</p><p>I have great news; call me when you get up.</p><p>Love you’’</p><p> </p><p>I had a feeling I knew what the news is. I had to sober up and get ready to face the biggest challenge of this whole plan. I stared at the phone for a few minutes, then answered Austin’s message, I didn’t want to call him, he would instantly know that something happened last night, even though our story began only a few months ago, he seemed to know me better than my mother, better than I know myself.</p><p> </p><p>‘’Good Morning boo,</p><p>I missed you too,</p><p>I had a horrible night, I feel like crap, I will explain later.</p><p>I will get ready and come over to you so you can share the news J</p><p>Can’t wait to hear it. Love you’’</p><p> </p><p>I sat at the table in the dining room with a massive black coffee, in my favourite panda mug that Austin won for me in the summer when funfair was in town. It was just a couple of weeks after he was free. This was the best date we had, I felt like a teenager, and he looked so happy, only after that date he told me he used to go to the funfair with his mum when he was a kid, which made it even more special. I stared at the mug deep in that date, his smile, looked so overwhelmed and happy, and that made me very happy. His happiness was my happiness.</p><p> </p><p>I ordered breakfast from a local place. They made the best ‘hangover’ breakfasts in the world, breakfast bagel with fatty bacon, cream cheese and eggs was precisely what we needed to heal the pain from last night’s three bottles of scotch after really intense evening.</p><p>I finished my coffee poured two more mugs, and walked to the living room to wake up the rest of the crew, Shaun was already awake.</p><p>‘Oh my god, coffee. Sis, you are an angel’ Shaun said, reaching for the mug.</p><p>‘How are your bones? You slept in a very uncomfortable position.’ I asked and approached Skylar with the other mug; I placed it close to his nose; he shifted and opened his eyes. <em>The power of coffee.</em></p><p>
  
</p><p>‘Not too bad, so far. I’m sure I will feel it later on once I get up.’ He said, clicking his neck. ‘Ouch, that didn’t sound good.’ He laughed.</p><p>‘Why the fuck I am on the floor?’ Skylar mumbled sitting up.</p><p>‘You woke me up with your fall.’ I said</p><p> </p><p>We sat looking at each other, we knew we have to talk about last night, but none of us had enough courage to start the conversation. Well, Skylar did.</p><p> </p><p>‘Ok…I hate to break this awkward silence, but I think we need to talk about last night. Everything worked as planned, right?’ Skylar asked</p><p>‘Yes, and I think Austin already got a call about this. He texted me this morning, and said he has good news.’ I said</p><p>‘Are you ready to tell him?’ Shaun looked me with worry.</p><p>‘How can I be ready to tell my boyfriend that I planned to set up his brother, and I just didn’t think it’s wise to tell him about it? I will never be ready; he won’t be happy about this, I know it.’</p><p>‘You just need to make sure to tell him everything, mostly the fact that you nearly shot the fucker in the head… we both saw it, Maya. For a split of a second, I thought you are really going to do it.’ Shaun said.</p><p>‘It crossed my mind, and that’s as honest as I can be. I have no idea what happened, ok?! I just saw his face, so fearless, so evil and I remembered my conversation with Austin about his mother, the pain he felt. I saw this fucker standing there in front of me, thinking that there is a happy ending for him, but I backed off I knew we had to stick to the plan.’ I said, looking at my empty mug.</p><p>‘Anyways, we’ve made it… let’s just hope it worked.’ Skylar got up ‘ I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes today, I’m sure he will eventually understand, but first, he will get fucking angry.’</p><p>‘Thank you both, for helping me. Without you, this would never work.’ I said with the smile.</p><p>‘You are my friends. I couldn’t say no to you.’ Skylar smiled and walked to the kitchen for the refill.</p><p>Shaun only nodded and smiled; he didn’t have to say anything else.</p><p>I decided to get ready and head to the hospital. I spend a long time in the shower, thinking. Thinking how my life changed since Austin’s picture showed on my screen that night, I found love, soulmate with one swipe right. He turned my life upside down, and I wouldn’t change it for anything in this world. The fact that I was ready to kill for him, proved me he was the ‘one’, the man I would follow to hell if needed.</p><p> </p><p>After a heavenly breakfast and long shower, I felt refreshed and ready to face the challenge. I left Skylar and Shaun at home recovering I drove to Cinnaholic and picked Austin’s favourites cinnamon rolls and coffee, the whole way to the hospital I’ve thought what to say, how to say it, but no matter what there wasn’t a right way to say it.</p><p>When I pulled to the hospital’s parking, I saw Greg’s car, who could miss that beast of a car?<em> What is he doing here? </em> Greg was the last person I could expect to be here. I parked next to him, grabbed the bag with still-warm pastry and walked to the hospital. While checking in, I saw Greg’s name on the visitors' list; I started to feel nervous; I had no idea what was doing here alone. He and Austin weren’t friends, quite the opposite they disliked each other for obvious reasons. Greg still had feelings for me and couldn’t accept the fact I loved Austin, and Austin couldn’t stand him still trying to win me, so his visit didn’t make sense at all.</p><p>I approached Austin’s room quietly, the door was slightly open, and I could hear Greg talking. I shifted a bit closer to listen.</p><p>‘’listen, all fair and square… she loves you, everyone can see it, but seeing her making all the same past mistakes it’s heartbreaking. She nearly died trying to save Luke’s life and now the same, she gets attacked by your psyho brother … what will be next? Some of your old thugs will go after her? My advice would be to leave her and let her have a decent life, a life that she deserves. With you, she will only experience violence, crime and most likely death… if you really love her as you claim you do, you will pack your bags and disappear; otherwise, I would have to help you with that.’’ I heard Greg’s voice; he sounded very serious and angry.</p><p>‘’ I do understand your concern Greg, but she is not a baby, she knows what’s right for her. I know very well that what happened was dangerous, and I was ready to die for her to be safe. At the end of the day, it’s her call, but I can assure you if for any reason she leaves me… I am not giving up without the fight. We have something rare, something that can’t be described with just words; we complete each other on a completely different level… if you think that coming here telling me how horrible person I am for putting her in danger and how much I don’t deserve her love for being a low scum piece of shit if you think this whole speech of yours will change anything, you can quit right now…you are jealous. I get it; you have feelings for her but this battle you’ve lost. So why don’t you disappear, huh? Leave us the fuck alone... Do you think I don't see how you stare at her? Right in front of your own woman… And you come here calling me a piece of shit!?’’ I heard Austin; his voice was calm and confident.</p><p>‘‘I guess where you come from respectful talk don’t exist, I should’ve guessed it. In jail, dregs of society like you are only taught violence and crime. Is that what you are trying to teach Maya? To be a criminal like you?!  That’s why you sent her there?!’’ Greg started to raise his voice.</p><p>‘’What the fuck are you talking about?! Send her where!?.’’ Austin shouted <em>Holy fuck!</em></p><p>‘’Oh? You don’t know? Did she tell you what she was doing last night? I guess she didn’t… Well, I followed her and your friend last night… and I don’t think she took your bike to practice shooting in the middle of the night…’’ <em>Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! </em>I was furious, he tried to turn us against each other before, but I thought it was just an innocent picking on him, but this was too much.</p><p>Before Greg could continue, I slammed the door open. ‘The audacity!’ I shouted, closing the door behind me. ‘What the hell Greg? First of all, what the fuck are you doing here!?  Second of all, who the fuck you think you are!?.’ Both of them jumped, seeing me.</p><p>‘Maya I …’ Greg tried to speak, but I cut him off approaching Austin and grabbing his hand. I was angry, disappointed and hurt.</p><p>‘You come here to the hospital to a wounded man, who supposed to rest, to threaten him? To call him names and tell him his less than you because what!? Because you have more money, a better car, a career? This means nothing if you are ugly on the inside… How dare you!? How dare you telling him to leave me because he is not worth my love!? What kind of person says that!? .’ I could see that he wasn’t expecting this reaction, his face was pale, and he couldn’t look at me.</p><p>‘It’s alright baby, calm down … we said all we wanted to say.’ Austin rubbed my arm, he could see my fury, but I didn’t quite finish yet.</p><p>‘Would you care to explain why did you follow me last night?.’ I asked a bit calmly this time, but still raging.</p><p>He cleared his throat and looked at me ‘I wanted to come and say hi, I knew he was here in the hospital so I thought I might take a chance to talk to you, but I saw you leaving the house with his bike. I decided to see where you are going,  and maybe catch you there, but then you picked up some other guy from town and drove for miles to some weird farm… I waited for you, but I heard shooting, so I moved away when I saw you running from that old house… What were you doing there, Maya? Did he tell you to kill somebody? ’He asked, ashamed but looked at Austin with anger.</p><p>I saw Austin staring at me with disbelieve; I knew that the whole plan to tell him the way I wanted was ruined. ‘Baby, what is he talking about? What did you do?’ I felt panic in Austin’s voice.</p><p>I took a deep breath and turned to him, cupping his face ‘I will explain everything I promise.’ I said and walked to Greg, I stood right in front of him, looking him deep in the eyes.’ I am deeply disappointed; I wasn’t expecting this from you … is it jealousy? Hate? Or what?... Did you really think that I would give you a chance, knowing how much I love Austin? … What the fuck is wrong with all of you people!? Why can’t you just let me live my life the way I want to!? Why you have to stick your noses everywhere?... Am I not allowed to be happy? To love who I want to love…You just proved that Austin is a million times a better person than you will ever be! His past and where he comes from doesn't give you the right to speak like this about him! He is a human being the same as me and you, he went through more pain in his life that you can ever imagine. He is more the man than you …You are in a relationship with my best friend and still trying to get to me, by insulting and threatening my boyfriend? Who is a lower person here, huh?’’</p><p>‘I can explain... that wasn’t my intention.’ he said, trying to grab my hand, I pulled away and took a step back. I could see Austin shifting in his bed, but he wasn’t strong enough to get up.</p><p>‘I don’t care what your intention was, Greg. I will say it one and last time … stop trying, we will never have anything and after this even less. You are my boss, and what I do outside my working hours shouldn’t concern you! You can also tell Gemma to go fuck herself… we are done! And now I think you should leave.’ I said, and looked away.</p><p>He grabbed his jacket and moved towards the door; then I decided that I had enough, enough of Gemma’s and his bullshit. ‘Greg… you will have my resignation on your desk tomorrow morning.’  I saw Austin’s shocked face.</p><p>‘Maya you don’t have to do this, we can talk this through another day…please don’t do this.’ Greg stopped, turning back towards me, but Austin decided to step in.</p><p>‘I think she asked you to leave.’ He said getting up, he grinned holding his chest trying to hide the pain, I knew he didn’t want me to help him, Austin wanted to show Greg who won the battle.</p><p>As soon as the door closed, I jumped towards Austin, helping him sit down, back on the bed. With me, he wasn’t ashamed to show his weaker side. I didn’t say a word; he already knew a part of the story. I took the coffee and the cakes that I left on the corridor’s chair, and passed it to him in silence, he watched me trying to read my reactions, but his silence made me nervous, and he knew it. I sat next to him on the bed and stared down at my cup.</p><p>‘I am guessing that the good news I have had something to do with you, right?’ he broke the silence and shifted closer to me putting his hand on my leg squeezing it gently ‘Listen, baby, I am not mad … just tell me what happened.’</p><p> </p><p>I took a deep breath and cleared my throat, still looking down at my cup. ‘We found Bennie, and set him up… I had everything planned, and it worked… I didn't want to tell you before because I didn’t want you to stress, me Skylar and Shaun had everything under control and planned... Skylar tracked Bennie and his two dogs; we knew exactly where they were it was just a question of a good plan.’</p><p>‘Baby, Kevin called me this morning, they found Bennie last night, he shot two of his dogs. He is locked up in the solitary waiting for the trial... I don’t think he will survive there very long… I am a bit disappointed you didn’t tell me if something would go wrong, I wouldn't even know.’ he grabbed my chin and gently turned towards his face, looking into my eyes. His piercing blue eyes looking right at me, full of love and understanding. I thought he would be furious and start lecturing me about how dangerous it was, but no, he understood.</p><p>I grabbed his hand and told him everything step by step, he listened. I didn’t spare any detail, apart from one I left it right to the end.</p><p>‘I don’t know what to say, baby, I can’t believe how badass my girlfriend is, you have bigger balls than any man.’ He smiled.’ To be honest, I had my suspicions that you are planning something, but I trust you.’</p><p>‘There is one thing that happened, though.’ I said looking down avoiding his eyes ‘ When I had the gun right into Bennie’s face ..I… I felt a strong need to pull the trigger and blow his head… I nearly did it, Austin.’ I said, tears building in my eyes. ‘I am so ashamed of this … am I an evil person?’</p><p> </p><p>‘Maya, look at me, love.’ he said, I looked in his eyes ‘Don’t you even dare to think that way, that night he attacked you, if he wouldn’t stab me I would’ve killed him … I was ready for it. I know it sounds horrible; only we can understand why this would’ve been the only way for us to live in peace. The most important thing is you didn’t do it, you stopped yourself, which makes you a stronger person than you think, and I love you for it. I love you for how pure and strong you are; you are the pillar of my life; for me, you are the definition of perfection, and nothing will change that in a million years… I am incredibly proud of you.’ He said, wiping the tears from my eyes.</p><p>‘I guess we are both fucked up in the head, that’s why found each other.’ I smiled.</p><p>‘I don’t care. I prefer to be fucked up with you until I die than be boring and normal without you.’ He said. I moved close to him and buried my head in his neck, wrapping my arms around him.</p><p>‘Austin, I want to leave town. I want to go away from all this, from Greg, Gemma… all the bad memories, I need a fresh start.’ I said</p><p>‘I will go wherever you go… tell me when and where I will go.’ He said, pulling me closer.</p><p> </p><p>‘What else Greg told you? I saw his car, and I knew this is not a friendly visit.’</p><p>‘Not much, he threatened to find something on me and put me back in jail if don’t back off. He said he loves you and doesn't want you to be wasted for a degenerate like me. He said something about some stuff that Gemma found on me, which I think was just a bluff to scare me off. The rest you heard, just a bunch of stupid talk nothing else, don’t worry about it.’ Austin said</p><p>‘Please don’t take any of what he said to yourself. He is a dick, I wasn’t expecting this from him, but to be honest, I could hear Gemma’s way of talking in what he said. I listened to this from her on numerous occasions; she manipulates him, and Greg is too weak to see it. That’s why I made a decision … I’m quitting my job I don’t want to be surrounded by people who don’t want my happiness. If they don’t accept you, they can’t be in my life; they don’t deserve my attention… we can start our lives somewhere else, just us … away from here.’</p><p>‘What about your parents? And Shaun?’ Austin asked</p><p>‘My parents need some time for themselves, now that my dad is here. And Shaun… he wants to settle as well. Angel is planning to travel to South America, and I think he will go with her. It’s time to fly out of the nest, start to live.’ I smiled ‘Are you with me?’</p><p>‘Always.’ He smiled and kissed me gently, he pulled away and said with his face close to mine.’ I wrote something for you last night. It’s called ‘’Light in the dark’’.’ He pulled his notepad cleared his throat and read it. ‘ I see you in my dreams, first thought when I wake, last before I sleep. You mean everything to me. Without you, there is no reason; Without you, there is no life. Without you, there is no light in the dark.’</p><p>His voice was so deep and soft; there were so much love and care in every single word. ‘I love it so beautiful. Thank you.’ I said and kissed him gently on the lips.</p><p> </p><p>‘I just needed you to know how I feel about you. I am glad you like it.’ He said, kissing my forehead.</p><p> </p><p>We spend the rest of the day talking about our plans for the future; we decided that we will start looking for a place and making all the necessary decisions as soon as he is better. I could feel in his voice as a significant weight has been lifted from his chest, Bennie was out of the picture most likely executed in a matter of weeks, his reputation in the gang was ruined which meant, nobody will come looking for us we were free.</p><p>I knew I have to close a few chapters of my life before we move on, some of them will be more painful than others, but that’s what we wanted, just move on.</p><p>The next day I delivered my resignation to Greg which stated my immediate leave, I sold my small shares of the company that came with my last contract and saved the pretty significant sum of this money for a surprise I had for Austin. Greg tried to stop me, he begged me to reconsider, but my mind was settled.</p><p>Once Austin was out of the hospital, we began the preparations, we had to sell my house, which we knew wouldn’t take long.</p><p>My parents took it lightly; they were happy for us. They planned to retire earlier and travel the world and recover the years they’ve lost because of Dad’s work. Shaun was already getting ready to fly to South America, he fell hard for Angel and couldn’t let her go.</p><p> </p><p>I dragged the conversation with Gemma as long as possible, ignoring her calls and messages. Only after a couple of weeks of Greg’s visit to the hospital, I decided to meet her. She didn’t even try to hide her bad intentions; she admitted that she knew about Bennie’s escape from prison the moment it happened from the news and decided to keep quiet because she wished he will kill Austin. This information broke my heart, how someone who claims to be your best friend can do something like this? I couldn’t understand it, no matter how many times she tried to apologize and begged me to forgive her I didn’t want to hear any more of her selfish bullshit. She never denied the hate towards Austin; she loudly expressed her feelings in front of everyone, making him feel like a lesser person. In a few months, she managed to draw me away from her, and from loving her like my own sister, she made me hate her.</p><p> </p><p>My house got sold in less the month, and we picked our place in the world, not far from my parents but far enough to feel free from bad memories.</p><p> </p><p>It was Christmas Eve when I decided to take Austin for a drive, my surprise for him was finally ready, and I was too excited to show him finally.</p><p>We drove for over two hours; he had no idea what is going to happen. We arrived in the city we decided to move to, it was already dark, it was bigger than my town and more vivid, the city centre was full of Christmas decorations, streets covered in beautiful white snow. I instantly fell in love with it; I saw Austin’s eyes sparkle when he looked out the window.</p><p>‘This place is perfect.’ He smiled when I parked near the shopping mall, we got out of the car and stood in the middle of the small parking just looking around.</p><p>‘I have a surprise for you, but we need to walk a few streets.’ I said and smiled passing my hand to him, he smiled and grabbed it pulling me close, he wrapped his strong arm around me, and we walked through the city breathing in the fantastic vibe and positivity every little shop, every person, every snowflake brought. We stopped every few meters admiring the architecture and the beauty of this city.</p><p>‘We are here.’ I said when we stopped in front of closed local, located close to a square, that was the city's biggest attraction.</p><p>‘What is this?’ Austin asked, looking around.</p><p>I grabbed his hand and placed at a set of keys in it ‘This my love, is your restaurant.’</p><p>‘What!? No, way … how?’ He said with excitement and disbelieved.</p><p>‘I saw this local few weeks ago, for an excellent price, and I remembered how much you wanted to have a place like this, so I bought it for you … come on, look inside … it will blow your mind.’ I said smiling</p><p>‘Baby this is too much... I don’t know what to say.’ he said with breaking voice while opening the door. I smiled and rubbed his back before he let me enter first. I turned on the lights, and I could hear Austin gasp, I turned back to him. He looked like a little kid in a massive toy shop.’ Do you like it?’ I asked.</p><p>‘Like? Baby, this is all I ever dreamt off, this is exactly how I always pictured it, for so many years.’ I could see his eyes filling with tears when he pulled his gloves off and touched the chair's fabric with his bare hand. Seeing him so happy made me feel so complete.’ Merry Christmas, love.’ I said, rubbing his arm.</p><p>Austin turned his face to me and with one smooth move grabbed the back of the neck and pulled for a kiss, I could feel his tears on my face when he kissed me deep and hard. ’What did I ever do to deserve all this? To deserve you?’ he pulled away and rubbed my cheek with his hand.</p><p>‘You swiped right.’ I smiled, wiping his tears. He laughed and kissed me again, gently this time. ‘Let’s check the rest of the place; it’s amazing you will see.’  I pulled him towards the kitchen. The local had a unique rustic vibe, real red bricks on the walls, dark and heavy furniture, all the chairs were finished with a thick velvet bottle green fabric, yellow dimmed lights hanging from the ceiling, making the place feel even more special and antique. We walked to the what probably was VIP area, separate room with couches in the same bottle green colour, and massive antique dark oak table and brick walls, I opened a cupboard and took two whiskey glasses, dusted them with the cloth and put on the table.</p><p>‘We need to celebrate’ I said, taking a small bottle of Irish whiskey from my bag, still cold from the outside.</p><p>‘Before we do, I have a Christmas gift for you.’ He said, taking off his already unbuttoned coat and placing it gently on one of the couches and took a small envelope from the inside pocket, he passed the envelope to me and said while I was reading the letter inside it ‘The fact we choose this city is not a coincidence, this is place is a capital of art... I contacted a few people and showed them your paintings; they want to meet you soon as we are settled here. I know how much painting means to you, but you didn’t have an opportunity to show it to the world, and I want you to be happy, I promised you I would do everything to keep a smile on your face, and I am planning to keep that promise.’</p><p>I put the letter on the table and jumped wrapping my arms around him, burying my face in his neck when he lifted me ‘Merry Christmas baby.’ he whispered, I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed deeply. I dropped my coat on the floor still kissing him, Austin sat me on the table, moving his lips down to my neck and by my collarbone, he slid his hands under my dress and tossed it aside with a smooth single move.</p><p>The room was cold, nearly reaching the freezing temperature from the outside, but the heat started pulsing through my blood when his hand slipped under my tights, pulling them down. I ran my hands through his chest grabbing the shirt and sending the buttons flying across the room, Austin shot me his cocky smirk, when I exposed his muscular body from the tight shirt he was wearing. I pulled myself closer to him with my wrapped around his waist, he gripped my ass and lifted me carrying to the velvety bottle green couch. I felt the cold of the fabric when he laid me down, forcing goosebumps on my skin.</p><p>Austin’s hot breath and lips traced all over my body, going south slowly driving me insane. He loved to make me wait, testing the limits of my desire, he was very much aware of how much I wanted him, but this was sweet torture, and he liked playing this game.</p><p>My breath got shallower with each touch, but as soon as his fingers slid under my panties and pulled them down and tossed on the floor, I knew this is just the beginning of this sweet torture, he was just warming up. Austin slowly buried his lips in my wetness but didn’t touch it I could feel his warm breath on it and his eyes sparkling at me, he rose his brow and smirked, wrapping his strong arms around my legs and with his eyes not leaving mine began his game.</p><p>My head thudded against the couch when his tongue finally brushed my most sensitive point; I arched my back with my fingers my already tangled in his hair, pulling in with each move of his tongue, my legs begun to stiffen as I pushed against him getting closer to my climax. Still, each time I was already on edge, Austin slowed down  and pulled away kissing my inner tights, torturing me  ‘Please Austin.’ I moaned</p><p>‘Please what?’ he asked with this sexy dominant tone.</p><p>‘I want you.’ I breathed needing him more and more.</p><p>‘What exactly do you want?’ he asked, pulling his trousers down, his length ready for me ‘ Is that what you want huh?’ he asked and looked at his tool with the slightly arrogant gaze.</p><p> </p><p>I lifted myself on my elbows on my knees to face him ‘Alright Mr Russo, now is my time to play.’ I said and pushed him on the other side of the couch I leaned over his length, I roughly spread his legs apart and began torturing him, my hands bushing his inner tights I knew how much this distracts him, I added my silky hair to the collection, making sure my black waves brush the whole area, providing more distractions.</p><p>Austin reached his hand towards my hair, but I welcomed him with the slap, pushing this hand away ‘No touching.’ I said with the smirk.</p><p>‘Fuck, baby, you are worse than me.’ He laughed but quickly his laugh turned into a loud moan when I started to move faster and deeper. He began to buck his hips up and down; I drove him mad with desire with every single move, touch and breath, he kept moaning loud with pleasure. When his grans were getting louder and his breathing more desperate, it was a time for me to slow down. I looked for his reaction when I moved up and down slower with each move. Austin lifted his head and grabbed my hands, pulling me towards him.</p><p>With one motion he wrapped his around my waist and flipped me on my back, pushing my legs close to my chest, he rested his arms on each side of my head and entered me, I arched letting a loud moan ‘It’s that what you want, baby?’ he breathed thrusting faster and deeper. ‘Yes!’ I cried, biting his arm when my nails dug into his back, leaving marks, we were second from reaching our climax, he thirsted in me a few more times as we reached the orgasm. Austin dropped next to me, breathing heavy. I tried to pick my myself up from what just happened, I put my led on him and buried my face in his still sweaty chest, planting a gentle kiss on in the middle by his heart. He wrapped his arm around me, holding me tight.</p><p>‘This place has been officially baptized,’ I laughed; I felt his chest shaking from laughter.</p><p>‘I wouldn’t mind going straight into confirmation, but I’m starting to freeze.’ He said, kissing my forehead.</p><p>We collected ourselves, dressed, and after spending another hour looking around at our future, we returned to the house.</p><p>Right after New Year, we found a place in the countryside but close to the city, a place we could call ‘’home.’’ Bennie’s execution took place the day we received our keys, we closed all the old chapters in our lives and said goodbye to bad memories, welcoming the new beginning.</p><p> </p><p>We worked hard renovating the restaurant that became ‘Elizabeth’s house’ after Austin’s mother in a few weeks. Clients were queuing from the first day. My career took a drastic turn when I became a part of the city's art community. My paintings and projects were selling like fresh bread.</p><p>Austin and I were happier than ever; we both finally had everything we always dreamt off. But most importantly, we found each other.</p><p>Who would’ve thought that one swipe could change someone’s life so drastically? </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is sadly the last chapter in this story.</p><p>Thank you all for all your lovely comments and kudos :)<br/>Your support really helped me with this story, you are all amazing!</p>
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